Things I think the Los Angeles Municipal Traffic Court actually got right after spending most of the day here:

The chairs in the jury waiting room. Surprisingly comfy, really.
Free parking. With in/out privileges!
The Magic Badge that gets you to the front of the line. In fact, I think a civilian version of the Magic Badge would go over like gangbusters, and imagine the additional revenue you could generate with a Post Office or DMV LinePass. I would even go for an SUV Carpool Lane Gimme Pass, provided it were non-transferrable and $500,000/year.
The free weekly Metro pass option. Kicks ass over the 34-cents/mile dealio (which, for those of you who have been AVOIDING your civic duty by THROWING OUT your subpoenas, you only get one way).
The hour-and-a-half lunch, with an extra 15 minutes up front so we can beat everyone else outta here at peak elevator times.

BONUS EXTRA: Free reading material provided by the state = good. Free reading material that skews heavily to the weirdest common denominator = bad. (Although if you replaced the Men's Journal/turgid romance novel action with some more left-leaning publications -- say, Granta and JANE , my problem pretty much goes away.

xxx
c

TECHNORATI TAGS: jury duty