Forever 19Working the Streets of Los AngelesFrom meter maid to ChiefForever 19Working the Streets of Los AngelesFrom meter maid to Chief
The Books
Two lives, two stories.
01
New — Memoir
Working the Streets of Los Angeles
Have you ever received a parking ticket? How did you feel about it? Angry? Frustrated? Did you blame yourself for making a mistake, or did you blame that terrible “meter maid”? This book is the story of an enforcement officer (meter maid) in the city of Los Angeles. You will watch her career grow and change as she grows and changes along with it. You will learn that parking enforcement officers, or meter maids, are people too and perhaps not as bad as the public presumes them to be.
Have you ever lost a loved one? Perhaps a child? How did you handle the pain? Did you feel empty, want to give up on life? This book tells how one mother dealt with the pain and loss of a beautiful nineteen-year-old daughter who died as the result of a tragic accident. Love and faith helped the family cope with the emptiness and sadness.
— in her own wordsFor her daughter Cheryl Jean — forever nineteen.
Kaye Sandra Graham arrives in the summer of 1937 and grows up in the shadow of World War II.
“Loved the camera even then.”
1946
An Army family
Her mother remarries; her new stepfather adopts her. The family follows their Master Sergeant from coast to coast — and on to Japan.
1956
On her own in Seattle
At nineteen, a long-distance telephone operator for AT&T. Then California, marriage to George Beechum, and four children.
1966
The City of Los Angeles
Hired in July as a Parking Control Checker after a grueling process. The names thrown at her were not kind. Her skin got thick; her career got long.
1996
Chief of Parking & Traffic Management
Thirty years after writing her first ticket, she retires at the top — then trains cities, counties, and universities across the country through her firm, KSB Services.
2016
Forever 19
A lifelong dream fulfilled: her first book — a tribute to her youngest daughter — is published and wins a literary award.
2026
Working the Streets of Los Angeles
The career that started it all, finally on the page. A mother of four, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of three — and she is not done yet.
Parking enforcement officers, or meter maids, are people too and perhaps not as bad as the public presumes them to be.
— Working the Streets of Los Angeles
Miami Book Fair — 2018Making the book-fair roundsOn a wet & windy deckFormal night with her daughter
From Kaye’s Desk
New pages.
The typewriter is warming up — new writing coming soon.
