The revelation of parking ticket perks for 'Gold Card Desk' members that surprised the public appears that it is not much of a revelation to City Controller Wendy Greuel, who released the findings May 19 via her report .

Greuel's audit revealed that some 1,000 parking tickets were dismissed over a two-year period through the Gold Card Desk, an exclusive service supported by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, known only to a few people.

Mayor Antonia Villaraigosa's office provided new information stating that Greuel, in fact, was aware of the program and even used it herself. Email correspondence dating back to 2006 from Greuel's office seeking help from the Gold Card Desk was provided.

City Hall insists that Greuel was fully aware of the Gold Card Desk , having been given a PowerPoint presentation in 2008 in which the Gold Card Desk was specifically identified and discussed.

According to the email from Villaraigosa's office, As chair of the City Council's Transportation Committee then-Councilmember Greuel was briefed on all aspects of the department's operations and was fully aware of the Gold Card Desk.

This is contrary to Greuel's report, which stated Much to my surprise, my audit also revealed that the LADOT has a Gold Card Desk (GCD) for the Mayor and Council to exclusively use to determine whether certain fines associated with citations can be partially or fully reduced.

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