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June 19, 2007
Meter Maids Sticking It to Residential Nabes
While overall crime rates continue to fall around the borough (even in North Brooklyn, where yesterday's headlines focused on a rise in murders, saw 17 percent fewer robberies in the first 5 1/2 months of 2007), one threat to civilized society apparently continues to grow: scofflaw parkers. In Bay Ridge, parking violations were up 9 percent through June 10; in Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace, 25.9 percent; in Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, 4.3 percent; in Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, 6.6 percent. "A 25% jump is quite a jump in this community, especially when we have to move cars four times a week for alternate-side parking," said Jeremy Laufer, district manager of Community Board 7 in Sunset Park. So are people really violating parking laws more than in the past or are the police just thinking more like bank robbers? "Why do they come to Bay Ridge?" asked Bob Cassara, president of the Bay Ridge Community Council. "Because that's where the money is, and there's a lot of money in ticketing people." Exactly: A nice fat middle-class tax hike.
Parking Tickets on the Rise [NY Daily News]
Murder Up in North Brooklyn, Down in South [Brownstoner]
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Comments
I got a ticket for expired rego the other week during a brief park outside my house. I saw it, so I put the new rego on the dash (the old one needed a scraper that I didn't have on me). The asshole came back 30 minutes later and gave me a new ticket, this time for "incorrectly displayed rego".
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 9:40 AM
same thing happened to us a few months ago. we didn't have a scraper handy so we put the new one on the dashboard and sure enough got nailed.
Posted by: Brownstoner at June 19, 2007 9:48 AM
First: repeat after me: there are no quotas; there are no quotas; there are no quotas.
Also, ya'll ever notice if there are a lot of rookie cops in a neighborhood, you see a lot of bullshit tickets pop up? Trucks can go off designated routes, contractor vans can double park but some schmuck who has parked in the same 10' from a hydrant spot for 20 years... gets a ticket.
Anonymous: what precinct were you in?
wwib
Posted by: http://whowalkinbrooklyn.com at June 19, 2007 9:49 AM
I wish they would make it easier to have a car in NYC so more people would buy/drive them. It's so hard to live in NYC without a car. If this were the midwest or L.A. where it's easy to walk or take public transportation it would be one thing. We need to get rid of parking regulations and tolls. Cars and other oil-reliant technologies are the wave of the future. Driving them supports the local economy (gas stations) and makes our world a more pleasant place.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 9:51 AM
Sort of related, but my building (still a renter, unfortch) in the Slope just received a $25 summons by the DOS for "bags of garbage containing more than 50% recyclables". I think this will be the first of many FOR many. Are other neighborhoods (rightfully) seeing the Bloomberg's push for income? lol
Posted by: http://herwayorthehighway.blogspot.com/ at June 19, 2007 10:00 AM
Parking, parking tickets, and the highest iunsurance rates in the country,are the downside of living in Brooklyn. When I moved here these things were compensated by affordable real estate prices. Now that prices are on crack, I just cannot imagine how much longer people will put up with this.
We should have a people's uprising!
Posted by: anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:04 AM
uh, I guess it should be easier to drive a car AND throw away recyclables too? Let's get rid of all inconvenient laws!
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:05 AM
There are quotas, if not by name then by some other similar system. There is no WAY that nypd traffic (double-parking as they write someone a ticket, because their legs don't work too well) or meter maids can be so efficient at their job if they just had to clock in the hours.
They should take whatever production incentive system they do have, and transfer it to the brooklyn DMV (management, not workers. It is the managements fault they are so woefully understaffed).
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:10 AM
I'm not surprised to hear about a 25% jump in Sunset Park. I got a ticket for double parking a few weeks ago. The cops let us do this during alternate-side parking times and that's what I thought I was doing. It turned out that it was suspended because of a Jewish holiday that I didn't know about. That ticket cost me $115. Imagine that, something as harmless as this and I get such a large fine. It's all about the money. It makes me sick, it tarnishes the whole system. All the police cars have a slogan, it says "To serve , To protect". Maybe they should add " to financually take advantage of you!"
Posted by: Rick at June 19, 2007 10:12 AM
if you're parking illegally, you get a ticket. of all the ways the city needs to raise fund, this one makes the most sense to me.
ditto throwing out recycling.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:18 AM
"Why do they come to Bay Ridge?" Is this guy kidding me?
If you park illegally, you get ticketed. What is all this complaining about? It's one of the reasons I don't have a car, and yes, I know how hard it is to have kids and groceries and strollers so I don't criticize those who do own them but to take this up as a cause is just silly. I realize some tickets are more ridiculous than others, but let's pick our battles folks. Shell out big bucks for a garage if you have to, it'll save you $$ over time, apparently.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:23 AM
Anon 9:51 and 10:04, I suppose you're the same. Look, I am not an advocate of driving over public transportation, not by a long shot, but it's a free country and cars are a huge convenience that can improve livability. As someone who lived a year mobility impaired, I have a new appreciation for their existence in the urban landscape. The point is that the city is devoting a huge chunk of change to wringing every last cent out of taxpayers. In many areas that are blitzed with parking tickets, bad parking is nowhere on the list of residents' complaints. The city is not investing in improving quality of life for taxpayers, but in nickling and diming them--probably to help pay for the fleet of gas-guzzlers and army of bodyguards it offers even its lowliest public officials.
As for recycling--that's not an egregious fine for a pretty blatant (and lazy) violation. Recycling fines have been out there, but, for the most part, not crazy.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:24 AM
What irks me is not that the meter maids are enforcing the laws, but that laws are enforced selectively. If every meter maid in Greenpoint went up to Manhattan Ave. and ticketed the cars, vans, and trucks that parked illegally, double parked, parked in bus stops - all of which create actual, real traffic problems during rush hour - they'd have a bonanza.
My favorite is the armored car that is driving south down Manhattan Ave. When it gets to Calyer, it crosses the yellow line and parks - facing the wrong way - on Manhattan in front of the Dime savings bank. It does this at least once or twice a week, if not every day.
Posted by: jukegrad at June 19, 2007 10:34 AM
Stop breaking the law, and you'll stop being punished.
Posted by: jason at June 19, 2007 10:38 AM
Every single time an auto-related article comes up, some wiseass throws out the condemnation of urban car-ownership. He assumes that car owners in the city are all to lazy or precious to take public transportation.
I'll speak only for myself, but my job requires me to move large, heavy and unwieldy objects frequently. I also have a 150 lb dog and a baby on the way. These things make having a car a necessity. To assume that I'm some impudent jackass driving everywhere out of sheer laziness is to project your situation on me, and they're clearly quite different.
Posted by: houseowax at June 19, 2007 10:38 AM
houseowax,
the anti car crazies are loons. they are like the PETA extremists. You have to ignore them, they have their own issues of some kind.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:47 AM
a dog and a baby "on the way" make a car a necessity??
anyway. don't park illegally.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 10:53 AM
I have lived here my entire life and have never gotten a ticket and I drive all the time. Not one. I don't double park, don't park near a hydrant...It's not that complicated.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 11:16 AM
the anti-car crazies are children who cannot imagine any situation but their own. if it's good enough for their white-middle-class selves, then it's good enough for anyone.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 11:18 AM
The anti-car crazies are children with issues. Normal children love cars and trucks.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 11:22 AM
The reason why Bay Ridge has been blitzed with tickets, is the City Councilman, Vincent Gentile of Bay Ridge, was the one that stuck his neck out and diligently worked the bill to suspend Sunday Meters, and reverses the Mayors Law, which makes Sunday Meter Regulations, No Longer In Effect. The Mayor just inundated Bay Ridge with the Traffic Nazi's and made up the projected revenue with more tickets to Mr.Gentile's constituents.
Posted by: Mr. Ridge at June 19, 2007 11:48 AM
11:16, what do you want, a f*cking medal? Why don't you have a placard made up and put on your windshield while you're at it.
Posted by: Aristocrat at June 19, 2007 12:30 PM
I think Mr Ridge hit the nail on the head.
In politics as in physics, every action creates an opposite reaction.
This Mayor will not be crossed, he has more money than a King, and I think he is feeling every bit Henry the Eightish.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 12:34 PM
I hope all of you with tickets are fighting them, regardless of whether you're guilty or not. The DOT almost always knocks down the fine if you fight it just by sending in a "not guilty." I received a bunch of tickets when my registration expired. All of them got knocked down about 50%, even though there was no way I was innocent.
Posted by: Rocknrope at June 19, 2007 12:35 PM
You break the law, you get a ticket. What is the problem here?
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 12:45 PM
Oh, the joys of not owning a car!
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 12:49 PM
This ticket blitz isn't confined to Brooklyn. For years, in Manhattan, during street cleaning, the traffic agents would let you sit (i.e., stand) in the car on the "cleaning" side and just move aside for the sweeper, or double-park across the street. Within the past three or four months, they have started ticketing people who do either. Nothing like getting a ticket while still sitting in your car. Guess they would rather have people drive around the city in circles for an hour and a half, burning up fuel.
Posted by: anonymous at June 19, 2007 12:49 PM
Funny I think the NYPD should be giving out 10x the number of tickets they do now. There are a bunch of nut jobs in Brooklyn who double park all over the place, but the biggest problem is moving violations. I wish the NYPD used some of they money they raised from ticketing to get the a--holes who don't know what a turn signal is, who pass you on the right on the sidewalk so they can run the red light, who drive in the bicycle lanes, etc.. These people should be taken off the road permanently. If license suspension doesn't work they should be imprisoned for as long as it takes.
Also the double parking ticket NEEDS to be raised and the law enforced. $115? That should be the minimum, index it to 1% of the car's bluebook value for the first ticket of the year, increasing 1% for each additional ticket.
This discussion also reminds me that I have a parking ticket I need to pay...
Posted by: danielk at June 19, 2007 12:52 PM
Brownstoner, it's your blog and you get to have whatever opinions you want, but I am frustrated with this one and I wonder if you could clarify. How is enforcing existing laws a "nice middle-class tax hike?" I think it's lazy when people write the cost of a few tickets into the overall price of their car ownership. Then if they went over their "ticket budget" they get frustrated. Well, you have a few choices: a) do a better job of getting out of bed and moving your car, b) pay for parking, or c) sell your car. What am I missing here?
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 12:53 PM
I'm not one to advocate for cars, and I certainly wish that more tickets were issued for people running red lights and other really dangerous moves that happen all the time in Brooklyn (driving & parking in bike lanes, etc), but we have gotten several ridiculous tickets, like "Improper Registration" which nobody seemed to even understand (we called 311, contacted DOT, etc). We eventually had to pay, and eventually got refunded the money (because it was b.s. as there was nothing "improper" about our registration). We also got a ticket for something that made no sense about the liner of our pickup truck. Point is, plenty of b.s. tickets are issued for things when people aren't "parking illegally."
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 12:55 PM
Some days ago the headline was how many tix were issued in Brooklyn Heights. But that wasn't the real story. Look at who was next on the list: Kensington/Midwood.
You say payback to Vinnie Gentile, what about payback to Dov Hikind or Simcha Felder? What did they do? Does the Mayor know how his government works?
Certainly a 25% increase in Sunset Park deserves scrutiny. Who did we abuse?
Definitely the drivers/owners didn't set out this year to violate the admin code five times for every four times they can remember from last year and get caught every time. This begs an investigation by the City Council at the least.
The NYPD spokesman who says there is NO crackdown and NO policy change must defend that statement. There is NO logic there.
Again, reading the full article, it states only precinct-issued totals were counted and NOT Traffic devision. A bit of fact-finding by the CC is in order.
Posted by: tom murphy at June 19, 2007 1:54 PM
In Boerum Hill there are signs warning that honking will get you a $350 ticket--now THAT'S how the city should make money. Anyone think it's possible to enforce? Do honking laws ever get enforced?
Posted by: EG at June 19, 2007 1:56 PM
There are enough violators driving (cell phone users, red light crashers) to substantiate any ticket "quotas". Problem is, some cops and meter maids are reluctant to engage in a confrontation, so they wait til no one is around to leave their gifts. What the city needs is to train policemen to look out for more of these moving violations.
Posted by: Bauza at June 19, 2007 2:01 PM
The problem is that we have a mayor who financed his own campaign, who doesn't give a shit what people think, and who gets driven around in a private car and a private jet. He's a punitive SOB and what's really weird is that many New Yorkers seem to like the strict Daddy routine.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 2:20 PM
Their classic move is ticketing you then towing you soon after. In Boerum Hill I saw I had a ticket so I left the car in the spot for a few hours. When I came back, it had been towed. Now that's something much worse than a ticket -- you have to go to the Navy Yard, pay a bigger fee, and deal with the inept city bureaucracy.
Posted by: anon at June 19, 2007 2:30 PM
"You break the law, you get a ticket. What is the problem here?"
No problem EXCEPT that I've had a number of fraudulent tickets issued by Parking Enforcement Agents wnen my car was legally parked. They've been dismissed, but what a PITA!
Posted by: Bob Marvin at June 19, 2007 2:58 PM
Tom Murphy you're onto something but take it a step further.
Not only should there be an investigation BY the city council, there should be an investigation INTO the city council. Cops and others get their pockets lined by political leaders so they won't give tickets in certain neighborhoods.
Along coney island ave and ave J, its been happening for years. Plenty of shoppers shop before sundown on friday with cars double parked and don't get ticketed. Fair, unfair, this is politics.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 3:01 PM
A random semi-related topic...Street cleaning/alt side parking.
Why, when they rip up your street in preparation for relaying asphalt ohhh probably weeks later, and you know damn well no street cleaner is ever coming down your block until it's relaid, do they still enforce alt side parking?
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 3:08 PM
What gets my goat is that some neighborhoods are move the car 2/wk while others are 4/wk. An equal protection violation if I ever have seen one.
The trucks that drive through on my no through trucks street should get tickets confiscating their first borns. I can only listen to my turntable between 11pm and 4am.
Posted by: x_x at June 19, 2007 3:31 PM
Would you people just please stop parking illegally. The NYPD has more important matters such as arrresting and harassing kids on their way to school and they could devote more time to that desperately needed service if they didn't have to devote so many manhours to parking issues.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 5:06 PM
What really sends me over the edge are the bullshit tickets like these:
1. I was ticketed for parking too close to a hydrant when I was correctly parked at a metered spot. When I took time out of my day to fight it, the ALJ noticed that the ticket was incorrectly written (part of the address missing) and threw it out. I asked if there would be any repercussions for the traffic agent who, by writing this bogus ticket, had stolen half my day from me. Needless to say, the ALJ did not answer.
2. I was ticketed because my Vehicle Identification Number (the little metal plate attached to the dash at the bottom of the windshield on the driver's side) was obscured by a piece of paper I'd thrown on the dash. I won this one because I argued that the VIN number was visible in two other locations on the car (it's etched in the glass of the windows).
If you ticket me for breaking alternate side rules, well, I knew the rules and screwed up. I don't like it, but it's fair. The bogus tickets make me nuts because there's no way to avoid them and take time and energy to fight.
And I agree that there should be more emphasis on tickets for moving violations rather than parking violations. Riding my bike I have learned that about 50% of drivers do not bother to signal their turns, especially right turns. This is actually quite dangerous for cyclists -- I am always watching the cars ahead of me for behavioral signs that they are about to turn (slowing down, drifting to the right), since I cannot depend on getting a signal.
Posted by: SPer at June 19, 2007 5:48 PM
The NYPD tickets selectively. They park
double park, park on the side walks, park in No Parking Zones, No Standing Zones and bus stops. Of course they do not issue eachother tickets. And they get to ride the trains free! With a gun! I appreciate the good work that they do but they are not special. Please do not go into how they put their lives on the line every day for us. Look at the stats, Police work is not one of the most dangerous professions. Many city workers (Sanitation, EMS, Transit Workers, Corrections, etc..)risk their lives and don't get the accolades or benefits that NYPD gets.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 8:28 PM
Your comments only benefit one rich middle class blue blood
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 9:36 PM
your comments only benefit one blue blooded rich bastard
Posted by: Anonymous at June 19, 2007 9:37 PM
i recently got a parking ticket and TOWED in fort greene for parking too close to a hydrant. ok, yes, maybe i was a *little* too close. so give me a ticket - but ticket + towing cost almost $300. Definitely a money-maker for the city!
Posted by: Lisa at June 20, 2007 12:13 PM
the city needs to fix all these freakin pot holes here in Brooklyn! Especially atlantic ave! makes no sense. Only in NYC!
Posted by: Anonymous at June 24, 2007 10:55 PM
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