No accurate numbers on L.A.'s parking meters

Which means there's probably no way of knowing whether the city is collecting all the meter money. Nice. It's the latest finding by City Controller Wendy Greuel, who has released several audits in recent months on the mismanaged Department of Transportation. From press release:

The DOT estimates the City has approximately 36,000 meters, however that figure could not be verified. The Department's unreliable meter inventory combined with technology issues, incomplete on-site monitoring and out-dated map books contribute to the fact that DOT lacks sufficient controls to ensure collections are actually being made from all parking meters.

Greuel's audit also found that the scanning devices that are used to track revenue from parking meters don't work very well. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently nominated his transportation deputy, Jaime de la Vega, to run the DOT on an interim basis.