The NY Daily News reports:
Merchants and elected officials are blasting what they call a parking ticket blitz in the borough that’s driving customers away from local businesses.
But the NYPD says ticketing has actually gone down since last year.
Castle Hill businessman Robert Bieder – who organized 12 north Bronx local merchant associations into the Bronx Merchants Coalition – said a survey of its 3,497 members showed that aggressive ticketing was their top concern.
“Customers are telling merchants, ‘I can’t keep shopping here – I can’t afford the tickets,’ ” Bieder said.
“Meter maids are descending like locusts on certain communities,” said City Councilman James Vacca (D-East Bronx).
As one example, he pointed to the intersection of Westchester and Castle Hill Aves., which he said saw about 5,000 parking tickets issued over the past year.
“This intersection is the highest I’ve ever seen,” Vacca said.
Vacca was joined at a news conference there by Brooklyn Councilman- and candidate for public advocate – Bill de Blasio (D-Park Slope), who called for a citywide audit of ticketing practices to find possible patterns of abuse.
De Blasio charged that while other city agencies are under a hiring freeze, Mayor Bloomberg’s plans to hire 200 additional traffic agents shows aggressive ticketing is “part of a revenue strategy” to prop up the shrinking city budget.
Both politicians blasted zero-tolerance enforcement of tiny or momentary violations – ticketing drivers double-parked waiting for another car just pulling out of a parking space, or agents hovering over meters to write a ticket the moment time expires.
A bill Vacca introduced to combat questionable tickets would require traffic agents to include a photograph clearly showing the violation with each ticket issued.
“The ‘I Gotcha’ tickets have got to stop,” Vacca said.
While not addressing ticketing activity at the Castle Hill intersection, the NYPD said statistics showparking tickets issued by uniformed officers in the local 43rd Precinct are down by 1,200 so far for the first six months of the year.
Boroughwide figures for parking tickets issued by both uniformed officers and traffic agents show about 24,000 fewer tickets issued in the first six months of this year than in the same period last year.
“This information doesn’t correspond to what I’m hearing on the ground and what I see seven days a week,” said Vacca. “If there’s a decrease, it’s not in my district.”
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10 Responses
City officials are lying. Anyone who drives around Boro-Park knows that the “Meter Maids” are swarming like locusts, laughing away, as they hit everone for thousands of dollars in tickets.
Thye are a modern-day version of “Highwaymen.”
If they would stop shooting tickets for dumb rules, and instead they should give major fines to drivers who beep and beep and beep nonstop, NY would look a lot better
this beeping situation has gotta stop
There is no municipal parking in Boro Park, and there is a shortage of parking space as it is. Now the meters went to 20min. and it is a nightmare for all . Metermaids are out in droves, on one block 2 on each side!!!! It is ridiculous and killing our businesses.
I personally witnessed a fellow who pulled over on 13th Ave. in front of a store, let a passenger run out to pick something up from the store, while he waited 3 minutes in the driver’s seat with the motor on. As the passenger came out, a police car blocked him from pulling away and wrote out a ticket for double parking!!! $120!!! The officer DID NOT WANT HIM TO MOVE!! He wanted to ticket him!!!
I stopped on Ave J and E 12 st at a pump for not more than 10 seconds to drop off my daughter. My foot was on the brake, the car was in drive. Instantly, a meter maid was there to scan the window and starting creating a ticket for double parking. When I protested, she called me a “stupid Jew who thinks he owns the neighborhood”. I got her shield number, fought the summons and filed a complaint. Not only was the summons not dismissed – the complaint was deemed unsubstantiated and she filed a counter complaint against me.
This city has gone wild. A nicer meter maid confided and disclosed the training method to me. I can not publically discuss that. Vehamavin yovin. If we don’t all fight this madness, it will never go away.
Does anyone else think it’s odd that meter maids/misters are now going around in pairs? I feel they were ordered to do this provide witness for the city against citizen complaints, where meter maid #1 can then quickly and mindlessly support meter maid #2’s issuance of a questionable summons.
Why are those who break the law by parking at a pump or double parking so incensed when the traffic agent does their job and issues a ticket? What are they supposed to do – ignore the violations? I don’t get it!
YAAKOV DOE #8: there is nothing wrong with pulling over to a pump to unload a passenger. You are well within your legal rights to do so. The meter mamzer wrote the ticket as a double parker – NOT as a pump. She knew (and is well trained) to do it as such because it is undisputable. Thank the man you voted into office, the same one you’re going to vote for a third time. Dude, wake up and smell the coffee….
I think the problem’s on both sides. People break the law, then get annoyed when they’re ticketed. Meanwhile, cops get so annoyed that people don’t care about the law that they jump on the smallest thing, and the vicious cycle continues.
Did you ever notice that the average meter maid in Brooklyn is usually 300 pounds. I think they deliberately do that in case an irate driver tries to hit them he will just break his car.