Tickets at Dead Bus Stops Will Cease
August 19, 2010 by Allen · 193 Comments
According to some city officials, the issue of New Yorkers getting parking tickets at inactive bus-stops has finally been resolved, and drivers will no longer have to worry about the unfair tickets. Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, along with Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, called a press conference at one of the bus-stops where the problem persists. Apparently, simply by calling the press conference, the problem was addressed; a “No Standing, Bus Stop” sign which had not been removed since the discontinuation, was finally gone. However, Rraine Semaj, of Co-Op City, said that DOT must have taken the signs down in the last 12 hours because at 719am she received her third, erroneous, $115 parking ticket for leaving her car in front of the old bus stop. The NYC Department of Finance has said that drivers who received unfair tickets can get them dismissed, but they will have to go through the appeals process. After the press conference, a spokesman for the DOT claimed that all remaining bus stop signage on defunct routes had been taken down over the weekend. However, at 2pm on Monday, DenDekker’s chief of staff that the signage at their problem stop was still there.
DWI’ers: No Go Till You Blow!
July 18, 2010 by Allen · 8 Comments
New York City’s strictest DWI law yet, will take effect on August 15th, 2010. As of then, all people convicted of DWI, including first-time offenders, will be required to have a breath-testing machine installed in their vehicles. In order to start a car with one of these devices, the driver must blow into an air-nozzle which measures the BAC of the driver. Additionally, once the car is in motion, the driver will need to continuously retake the test in order to ensure they don’t start drinking after the car has been started. In a .025 BAC is registered (less than 1/3 the legal limit) the car goes “haywire” – in the form of the horn honking and a “high-pitched streak that, according to state probation director Robert Maccarone, ‘increases in volume until it’s intolerable.’” Family members of those convicted of DWI will also need to have the devices installed in their cars – and take the tests to operate their vehicles, as well.
Stolen Registration Tickets – NYC
June 29, 2010 by Allen · 11 Comments
Mine got stolen off of my car and now I’ve gotten two of these things in the last week.
Speeding (How’d You Beat Your Ticket?)
June 22, 2010 by Allen · 10 Comments
A friend and I were driving in separate cars to the same location. My friend was behind me and got pulled over for speeding. When I noticed he wasn’t behind me (after turning a corner) I pulled over and waited for him. A few mins later then same officer pulled up behind me and wrote me a ticket as well. Apparently, they can’t do that and the judge let me off.
City Council Drive For Legal Double Parking
June 1, 2010 by Allen · 12 Comments
Three Democratic New York City Councilmen are behind a bill which would essentially “legalize double parking in certain situations.” Drivers waiting for a “soon-to-be-vacated” parking spot, as well as those dropping off or picking people up, would be permitted to do so without being cited. In each year, under Mayor Bloomberg, the number of double parking tickets has gone up – from 806,112 in fiscal year 2002 to more than 1.3 million over the last fiscal year. “This is not a new phenomenon, that people wait for somebody to pull out of a parking spot. But it seems like what’s changed is that common sense has gone out the window in terms of the agents. They’re going around and playing gotcha with people,” said Councilman Vincent Gentile, one of the bill’s sponsors. “It’s enforcement gone wild,” added another sponsor of the bill, Peter Vallone. If the bill passes through the Council, it is expected to be vetoed by the Mayor, who vetoed a bill last year which granted a five-minute grace period to parking meter violators. That veto was eventually overridden by the Council.
Lack of Parking Spots Plague Austin Retail Stretch; Community Members Search for Solutions
January 26, 2010 by Allen · 7 Comments
The lack of parking spots and threat of parking enforcement has been hurting business on Austin St. for years, and is only getting worse according to the business owners in the area. The problem is simple: lots of shops, very few parking options. (No municipal lots, expensive parking garages, few legal spaces available.) One former business owner remembers many customers telling him “I’d love to shop here, but…” For her part, City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz has promised to try solve the problem, saying “It would be good for business, but funding may be hard to obtain.”
Just a Minute
December 7, 2009 by Allen · 4 Comments
Writer believes that the proposed five-minute grace period on New York’s parking meters (which Mayor Bloomberg promises to veto) will be ineffective. Her reasoning is that in order for a grace period to work, it must be a secret; otherwise it’s just a new deadline to be argued over.
