In your favor is the fact that the Examiner is a far left loon rag, claimed to be more accurate than the Bay Guardian,....claimed.
One of the comments under the article may furnish a clue: It may well be that violations of ADA (which is a Federal Law) must occur in a Federal court. So if the ticketee is claiming that the city is not honoring the exemption conveyed by the Handicapped placard, perhaps they are forced to go Federal.
I don't know about that at this time. In the past, the Examiner was far left. Then they got bought by a Chinese-American family, and the reporting turned more conservative (or moderate). The Chronicle (that sold off the Examiner) remains very far left. Many Chinese-Americans in SF are moderate or conservative. It then got sold to a Colorado outfit. As for who owns it now, I don't know, it changed hands in the last few years, and may have gone left again (I don't read it).