Denver Parking Agent Monopolizes Handicapped Spot

DENVER (CBS4) - Denver's Public Works Department says there's nothing it can do about one of its parking agents who is using his handicapped placard to park for his entire 8-hour work shift at a handicapped spot, as he then walks mile after mile around downtown Denver handing out parking tickets.

"It's not illegal," said Public Works spokesperson Daelene Mix. "He is parking with a valid placard in a spot with no time restrictions, so we can't ask him to stop doing something that's legal."

But Dale Coski, who oversees Denver's Office of Disability Rights and is disabled herself, says what vehicle control agent Lawrence Garcia is doing cheats other disabled drivers who need access to the parking space he monopolizes all day long.

"I'd say it's legal but it's not the intended purpose. It's not supposed to be used 8 hours a day, 12 hours a day,' Coski said.

The CBS4 Investigation found that for about a year Garcia has been arriving for his shift as a Denver vehicle control agent at about 7 a.m. The city provides parking for Garcia and other city employees in the Webb building at a cost of $125 per month. To avoid paying though, Garcia instead parks in a handicap space at 13th and California in front of the Robert and Judi Newman Center for Theater Education. It's the only handicap space in the area. Garcia leaves his car there, with a valid handicap hang tag, from about 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. as he walks miles and miles through downtown Denver handing out parking tickets.

Employees at the Newman Center have complained to Denver Public Works that Garcia, who trains other vehicle control agents in how to do their jobs, is making it impossible for other disabled drivers to get in and out of the Newman Center for classes, rehearsals or performances.

The city looked into the issue, concluding that since Garcia had a valid handicap placard there was nothing they could do since he had found a handicap space that has no time restrictions. Of the 125 disabled spaces in the central business district, 81 have strict time limits and 44 spaces have no time limit.

Asked by CBS4 if what he was doing was sleazy or unethical, Garcia responded, "I don't think so, no. If I can park there using my disability then I don't have to pay anywhere else. I have every right to park there as everyone else as long as that placard lists to me," Garcia said.

Asked if he was blocking other disabled people from gaining access to the Newman Center, Garcia said, "I don't think so. I'm as disabled as anyone else."

He declined to discuss his disability, but it does not prevent him from walking the streets of downtown Denver handing out tickets, as the CBS4 investigation observed and videotaped.

Coski said what Garcia is doing may be legal, but is morally questionable. Coski, who is confined to a wheelchair, said she parks in the Webb building and pays the $125 a month fee like other city employees.

"It's equal treatment, not special treatment. I pay like anybody else," said. said.

She said people like Garcia who have access to parking provided by their employer should use it and not tie up handicap spaces.

"If their business provides it, they should pay like anybody else," Coski said. She said Garcia's scheme may be legal but, "I don't think they should."

After CBS4 began inquiring about Garcia's parking plan, Public Works approached the head of Denver's Ethics Board for an opinion. The ethics board director said there did not appear to be a specific violation of the city's ethics code.

"We have to follow the letter of the law. We verify the placard is valid," Mix said.

But the clock is ticking on Garcia's free parking. The city will begin putting time limits on all handicap spaces in the Central Business District this summer, making it difficult for Garcia to continue to get his parking freebie and opening up the handicap space to other members of the disabled community.