You’ve just about arrived at the restaurant where you’re going to have a business lunch, and suddenly it looks as if this is your lucky day. An on-street parking space is opening up right in front of the restaurant. No expensive parking lot or valet service today!

You park and fish around for some quarters. But then you discover the parking meter is broken.

Your “luck” has turned into a dilemma. Do you stay put and take a chance on getting a parking ticket (which earlier this month was raised to $63 in Los Angeles)? Or do you get back in your car and drive to the expensive valet stand, where God-knows-what may happen to your ride?

Wait! This is Los Angeles. You know the ratio of meter maids to meter repairmen is probably 1,000-1. If you stay put, by the time you finish lunch you’d certainly have gotten a parking ticket. Maybe two. So you leave. As you pull out of the parking space, you notice another motorist pulling in. He thinks it’s his lucky day.

This scene could be repeated – what? – dozens of times a day maybe.

Imagine the restaurant that’s beside the broken meter. Or the thousands of L.A. restaurants and storefronts that have jammed-up meters in front of them. They are victims, too; their customers like on-street parking, especially for lunches or quick shopping. A broken meter in front of any shop can frustrate patrons or even make them drive off in a huff.

Sorry if it sounds cynical, but you have to wonder if Los Angeles and some other cities like it this way. They may not want to hurt their businesses, but California cities are desperate for cash and they have an incentive to let nonworking meters stay that way. After all, a functioning meter yields the city a handful of quarters each day. But a broken meter could yield hundreds of dollars a day in ticket fees and perhaps $1,000 if meter maids were instructed to aggressively target them. I mean, a broken meter over a year could probably offset John Noguez’s entire portfolio of low-ball property assessments.

So it was gratifying last week to learn that Gov. Jerry Brown had signed a law that bars cities from writing parking tickets at broken meters. That means drivers can park for free, for the posted time limit, if the meter doesn’t work. The law goes into effect Jan. 1 and is good statewide.

So if you find an on-street parking spot with a broken meter, it really will be your lucky day. And those businesses located near a broken meter may benefit from it instead of being hurt by it.

Wait! This is Los Angeles. Do you seriously think motorists will actually get to enjoy many free parking experiences?

Think about it. If cities can no longer profit handsomely from their broken meters, between now and Jan. 1, cities may speed up installation of the new meters that take credit cards and aren’t as prone to jam-ups.

For that matter – and this really does sound cynical – some cities may still do nothing and leave their old, broken meters untouched. Police may continue to write tickets. After all, most motorists don’t want to fight City Hall and be burdened with trying to prove the meter was broken. It’s much easier to sigh and mail in a check.

So, on second thought, if you find an on-street parking spot with a broken meter, it still won’t be your lucky day.

Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].