Paul Cook was not going to bow down – Mohandas Gandhi’s words were not echoing in his ears.
Never mind that the issue at the center of the David-vs.-Goliath battle was a parking ticket he could have paid. Never mind that if he was David, Goliath was the parking division of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, which was extremely difficult to challenge. Never mind that even his friends told him that fighting would be a waste of time.
“People are just like, ‘You can’t win against them,'” Cook said. “To me, it’s just – it’s wrong.”
So taking advantage of Gandhi’s teachings about the unbreakable power of religious “spiritual strength” to overcome the greatest obstacles, Cook began a journey through L.A.’s byzantine parking dispute process that would last approximately 16 months.
Cook’s story begins in Chinatown on December 19, 2024, when he returns to his car to find a yellow envelope hidden under his windshield wiper. Recalling that day in a recent interview with The Times, Cook became immediately angry about the bureaucratic odyssey initiated by the yellow slip. He is angry not just because he feels his time was wasted, but also because he knows that many others without his legal background, tenacity, or media understanding would simply pay the fine.
“The city of Los Angeles is being unreasonable,” Cook told The Times. “You get a parking ticket, they want their pound of meat.”
Cook that day to meet a friend for dim sum at 812 N. Went to Broadway. There were no signs prohibiting parking where they stopped and the roadside was not, by all accounts, painted red, he said. And yet, when he came back, there was the envelope, inside of which was a $93 fine for parking where he wasn’t supposed to.
Frustrated, Cook took a photo of the car and the ticket and filed an appeal after speaking to a parking division official. The Department of Transportation upheld the ticket the following February and Cook appealed again. On December 30, 2025, he stood before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge and presented printed color photographs of his parked car as evidence.
it worked.
According to a copy of the final decision, the judge concluded, “The Court finds that the citation has been issued improperly.” “No further payments are due.”
One might think that the story would end here.
One would be wrong.
Although satisfied that he had won, Cook was troubled by how much time and effort it took him to prove his case. So, in addition to mailing the judge’s decision to the Parking Division, on January 20 he mailed the Department of Transportation demanding $30.63 – the cost of printing photos for the court hearing and putting the miles on his car.
Then things got spicy and confusing.
On March 2, city parking officer Rose Dymley wrote to Cook in an email reviewed by The Times that she wanted physical proof that the ticket was overturned, to be mailed or handed “directly” to the parking violations bureau.
“To date, LADOT has not received the court’s official minute order via mail,” the email said. “Although we have reviewed the email copies you provided regarding the Memorandum of Citation Withdrawal and Cost Summary, please be aware that our department does not currently accept electronic filing services.”
Frustrated but relieved, Cook mailed the documents again. This time, he added a court order to support his demand for payment, which meant the city would have to pay an additional $40, more than double the amount he was owed, records show.
“See how they feel about it,” Cook said, enjoying the irony.
Those documents were released March 8, Cook said.
But the parking department also sent her some mail: a new fine amount for the original ticket, about $210. The notice told her she paid the $93 fine late, so it more than doubled.
About two weeks after Cook emailed Dymley about the notice, she asked him if he had mailed the office paper copies of the court order.
“Thank you for your continued patience and assistance in bringing this matter to a close,” Dymley wrote.
Cook’s patience ran out.
He quickly replied: “I don’t know what else I can do for you… I have made every effort to provide you with these documents several times.”
Cook emailed CBS LA and told the story of his battle with the parking department. A producer told him that the TV station contacted the Department of Transportation for the story.
And he received another bill in the mail. His fine increased to $265.75.
Then finally, this week, Cook got the email he’d been waiting for — confirmation from the parking department that they’d received the court records and could move forward. It appears that the end is indeed at hand.
The Department of Transport confirmed to The Times that it had received the necessary documents.
“LADOT could not take action to dismiss the citation before receiving official notice of the court’s decision,” the department said in an emailed response to questions. “LADOT has now received all verified legal documents and has turned them over to our citation processing contractor to begin the waiver process for the citation in accordance with the court order.”
Cook is still waiting for his check.
