CITY HALL, NY – The City Council’s Transportation Committee, chaired by Council Member John Liu, convened a hearing today to consider a proposal for a five-minute grace period for certain parking restrictions. Intro. No. 907, sponsored by Council Member Simcha Felder, would provide a five-minute grace period at muni-meters and at certain streets where parking is regulated by signs.
Administration officials, including NYC Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner David Woloch, NYPD Intergovernmental Affairs Assistant Commissioner Susan Petito, NYPD Office of Management Analysis Deputy Inspector Terence Hurson and NYC Department of Sanitation Planning & Cleaning Chief Michael Bellew, cited safety and sanitation interests in opposition to the proposal.
Chairperson Liu stated: “This bill does not change parking restrictions. It simply requires the City to wait a short period before issuing summonses for violations that do not impair safety and mobility. This is important because sometimes even the most law-abiding citizens can be unexpectedly delayed for a couple of minutes. The aggressive enforcement that takes place today reflects a misguided attitude of city government that people are always trying to game the system and break the rules. The grace period would in fact be a restoration of the City’s official policy, recognizing that people in general do abide by the law.”
CM Felder said, “New Yorkers are savvy people. They know the difference between ticketing to keep the streets safe, and ticketing to generate revenue for the City. When 28,000 tickets are given the minute Alternate Side Parking regulations go into effect, it’s clear the intent of the City is to generate revenue from hard working New Yorkers. This legislation aims to create a culture of reasonable traffic enforcement in this city.”
The proposal comes in light of scathing reports on parking ticket revenues that have multiplied
substantially in recent years and will soon approach $1 billion annually. The reports affirm the pervasive public sentiment of distrust in the City’s perceived regard for the driving public as a cash cow and seemingly excessive and unfair issuance of parking tickets.
CM Liu, who as chair of the committee does not sign on in advance of committee hearings as a cosponsor of bills referred to his committee, announced that he would indeed sign on as a co-sponsor of Intro. No. 907.
This bill is a continuation of overall efforts by CM Liu and members of the Transportation Committee to increase parking enforcement transparency, reduce unfair ticket writing, and make parking in New York City a more predictable and civilized experience.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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One Response
This seems like a 5 minute grace period on alternate side parking.
My suggestion which I told CM Felder a couple of years ago is to give a five minute grace on meters too. That is, that the meter goes to -5. I remember seeing this in Eretz Yisroel.