Request #8453

Western Center on Law & Poverty (WCLP) and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF) make the following request for documents to the city of Garden Grove pursuant to California Government Code section 7921, et seq. Where applicable, please provide the data in Excel or CSV.

Data Requests
1. The number of vehicles impounded by the City since March 1, 2018 (disaggregated by month), the reasons for the impound, the location from where the vehicle was towed, and the zip code of the registered vehicle owner.
2. The number of vehicles that currently have five or more unpaid citations in the City, the license plate number associated with each vehicle, the number of unpaid citations, and the citation balance associated with each license plate number.
3. All available data sets about unpaid parking citations the City and/or its processing agency have submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) pursuant to Vehicle Code 4760, including the following information:
a. The aggregate number of vehicles, parking citations, parking penalties transmitted to the DMV annually in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023;
b. The total amount for unpaid parking penalties collected and remitted by the DMV to the City and/or its processing agent annually in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023; and
c. For all parking penalties currently on file with the DMV, the vehicle license plate, the number of unpaid citations, the date of each citation, and the amount due for each citation.
4. The amount of money owed for outstanding parking tickets on vehicles towed by the City since March 1, 2018, disaggregated by month or year.
5. The amount of money remitted back to the City for outstanding parking tickets, following the towing of vehicles, if the vehicle is reclaimed following the impound, disaggregated by month or year, since March 1, 2018.
6. The amount of money remitted back to the City for outstanding parking tickets, following the towing of vehicles, if the vehicle is unclaimed and sold at auction.
7. Any available data sets that include information about vehicles impounded for five or more unpaid parking tickets, including the following information:
a. The make, model and year of the vehicle;
b. The assessed value of the vehicle;
c. The total amount of tow and storage fees;
d. The total amount of parking ticket, registration or other fees owed;
e. Whether the vehicle was claimed or sold at auction;
f. The amount the vehicle sold for at auction, if applicable;
g. Any deficiency debt, if applicable;
h. The amount of money remitted to the City related to any outstanding parking penalties or fees;
i. Any debt remaining after the vehicle was claimed or sold; and
j. The amount of money returned to the owner of the vehicle, if applicable.
8. Any available data sets that include information about the sale of vehicles impounded for expired registration, including the following information:
a. The make, model and year of the vehicle;
b. The license plate of the vehicle;
c. The assessed value of the vehicle;
d. The total amount of tow and storage fees per vehicle and/or in aggregate;
e. The total amount of parking ticket, registration or other fees owed per vehicle and/or in aggregate;
f. The length of time the vehicle registration was expired when the vehicle was towed;
g. Whether there were any parking penalties on file with the DMV when the vehicle was towed;
h. The reason the vehicle was not registered (i.e., hold placed on the registration for outstanding parking tickets, no smog test, etc.);
i. Whether the vehicle was claimed or sold at auction;
j. The amount the vehicle sold for at auction, if applicable;
k. Any deficiency debt, if applicable;
l. The amount of money remitted to the City of related to any outstanding parking penalties or fees;
m. Any debt remaining after the vehicle was released or sold; and
n. The amount of money returned to the owner of the vehicle, if applicable.
9. Documents that show all fees or other penalties charged to vehicle owners by the City or the City’s agents or contracts when a vehicle is towed.
10. All policies and procedures regarding payment plans for unpaid parking tickets, including:
a. Whether there is a deadline for enrolling an unpaid parking ticket;
b. Whether there is a cap on the amount of unpaid parking penalties that can be enrolled in a payment plan;
c. What income limits or other criteria are used to determine whether a vehicle owner qualifies for a low-income or indigent payment plan;
d. Any policies regarding when a vehicle owner misses a payment deadline; and
e. Any policies regarding the transmittal or recall of an itemization of parking penalties from the DMV pursuant to Vehicle Code 4760.
11. Copies of all public information about payment plans for unpaid parking tickets, including flyers, notices, and applications.
12. All data available about participation in parking ticket payment plans in 2018 through the present, including:
a. The number of applications or requests for a payment plan;
b. The number of payment plans that were approved, and the number of tickets and total amount of parking penalties enrolled in each plan;
c. The number of payment plan applications or requests that were denied and the reason for the denial;
d. The number of payment plans that were successfully completed;
e. The number of payment plans that were not completed and whether the unpaid parking tickets were submitted to the DMV.
13. For each year from 2018 through the present, the aggregate number of parking citations issued, the amount of parking penalties collected, the number of late fees assessed, the amount of parking penalties that are outstanding, and the average length of time each ticket was outstanding.
14. For each year from 2018 through the present year, the aggregate amount spent by the City on parking enforcement.
15. For each year from 2018 through the present year, the aggregate amount spent by the City collecting unpaid parking citations, including any amounts charged by or maintained by the DMV.

We ask that you release to us the documents requested above without delay, and in any event
within the 10-day deadline mandated by Government Code section 7922.535. If the material responsive to one request is ready, but the City will need significantly more time to gather materials on other questions, please forward what is ready as soon as possible. We are also available to meet and confer to discuss alternatives if any of the requests do not correspond with available data. Also, if portions of the documents are exempt from disclosure, please provide the non-exempt portions. Please send the response and any responsive documents in electronic format to mflood@lccrsf.org.

If you believe that the records are in fact exempt from disclosure, please provide a written
response setting forth the legal authority on which you rely in failing to disclose each document. In addition, please provide us with any documents that support this position.

WCLP and LCCRSF are non-profit organizations dedicated to public service. We therefore request that you waive any fees that would normally be applied to a public records request. In addition, we request that any records maintained in electronic format be provided in that same format, to avoid copying costs. However, should you be unable to do so, WCLP will reimburse the City for the direct costs of copying these records (if you elect to charge for copying) plus postage. If the City anticipates that cost of duplication or any other cost of production will exceed $50, or that the time needed to copy the records will delay their release, please contact us so that we can arrange to inspect the document or decide which documents we wish to have copied or produced.
If I can provide any clarification that will help identify responsive documents or focus this request, please contact me at: (415) 234-0784‬. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.