Thousands of cops lose parking permits

[Trainspotter]

Thousands of cops lose parking permits

The city has slashed the number of parking placards by almost a third, yanking 25,879 permits that allowed public workers to park free all over town.

 

Cops lost 17,457 placards - the bulk of the cuts - that permitted them to park personal cars near their precincts.

 

An additional 4,000 came from the police stock of placards for official business, and the rest came from dozens of other city agencies.

 

That reduces the total number of permits to 54,891, down from 80,770.

 

Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler expects a cut in the city Education Department's 63,390 permits of at least 20% in time for the start of school in September.

 

New standardized placards are designed to eliminate the dizzying patchwork of permits previously created by each agency that often stumped ticket writers.

 

"They were being respected by the people who were doing traffic enforcement because they looked legit," Skyler said. "If you have an old police one, you might as well have a Time magazine on the dashboard. It's not going to be effective."

 

Former Deputy Transportation Commissioner Sam Schwartz said the city's action will help speed traffic in lower Manhattan, downtown Brooklyn and other congested areas.

 

"When the placard parkers take up all the loading zones, the trucks have to double-park," said Schwartz, who writes the Daily News' "Gridlock Sam" traffic column. "It will allow for some curb space to be available for trucks."

 

From: - May 1, 2008

[BMT4Life]

Finally something was done about this problem. Abuse of parking placecards was out of control. Sure the police should be able to park anywhere but when a few bad apples start abusing their right the time has come to start cracking down and pulling them out.

[INDman]

What they need now are lots that are close to every comand so every officer that works there can park there. Also its not just police who abuse parking permits, almost every city worker does.

[Harry]

Also its not just police who abuse parking permits, almost every city worker does.

 

It's mostly cops who do. Why do you think it made the news.

[INDman]

So were should they park if there are no lots provided by the city so they can park with out permits. Many firemen don't even have city issued permits, they have ones issued by their union. Also why are they cutting official business cards? How much is the city going to waste when Traffic Enforcement Agents ticket unmarked cars and the tickets are dismissed?

[Harry]

In my neigborhood parking you car is a nightmare. On a lot of blocks you see cars parked on hydrants with a police placecard. Is that fair? What if there's a fire and the fire department needs that hydrant. If someone dies because of that delay, we'll just say a cop was blocking the hydrant and call it a day. I don't think so. Then there are some who abuse it to go shopping, cmon now. Something had to be done about this and it has. There were just too many of them doing this.

[INDman]

I agree that they should not abuse it, they should how ever have permits so they can go to work. They should not park in fron tof fire hydrants or use it while shopping, but they need to park somewhere while at work. In my neighborhood in brooklyn it can take me over an our to park, but if there was a station house near me I would be 100% ok with ON DUTY officers taking up those spots. They should have special times on block near staion houses that are for ON DUTY officer parking only, that or the city could make parking lost for their personal cars. I know near my house, the 7-2 has a lot on a side street and there is a lot also on the roof of the station. Morethings like that should be done to help out the police of this city that Bloomberg has let down time and again.

[metsfan]

You think that's bad? In my town and surrounding areas people park in fire lanes and disabled reserved spots like it was meant for them to park there. It's insulting to think they think their comfort & convenience is more important than the safety of the people in those stores or the disabled people looking to find a spot to park not too far away.

 

- Andy

[DOB2RTO]

In my neigborhood parking you car is a nightmare. On a lot of blocks you see cars parked on hydrants with a police placecard. Is that fair? What if there's a fire and the fire department needs that hydrant. If someone dies because of that delay, we'll just say a cop was blocking the hydrant and call it a day. I don't think so. Then there are some who abuse it to go shopping, cmon now. Something had to be done about this and it has. There were just too many of them doing this.

 

 

Harry, I'll tell you what happens. They break the windows, and run the hose through the car. When done, they leave the hose on, and run it back through the car.

[DOB2RTO]

We don't even get that, unless you are a dispatcher who uses your own car for work (some do this). All we can do is put our orange vests (if you have one), in the window, if you have or can't get parking in the depot/yards. The cops do abuse theirs, parking in bus stops, etc.....

[INDman]

This is why you don't park in front of a fire hydrent.

[Harry]

LOL! Nice one! That's what I'd do. Who's ever car it is.

[INDman]

I've seen it done, its done without hesitation.

[East New York]

I've seen that one in person as well. On Saratoga in Bed-Stuy, and just like DOB said, after they are done they pull the hose back through the car and soak the inside. The guy who's car it was mad as hell, and the FD called the PD. So then he had a soaked car, 2 busted windows, and a summons!

[SubwayGuy]

Its like parking on railroad tracks. Its illegal, you shouldn't do it, and if you do you'll wind up with a messed up car and probably a charge along the lines of "endangering the welfare of..."

 

[INDman]

The train will destroy your car, bit if you want it to kill you in your car it won't. Remember the guy who parked his car on Metro Link tracks in LA a few years ago. He was tring to kill him self, but instead of standing on the tracks he sit there in his car and the train derailed and i think 3 people were killed leaving the a@%hole alive in his car.

[SubwayGuy]

Speaking of which...that was ACTUALLY a question on my written learner's permit exam when I took the test almost 6 years ago. The question was, which of the following is a legal place to park your vehicle, and one of the choices was, "on railroad tracks."

[metsfan]

Speaking of which...that was ACTUALLY a question on my written learner's permit exam when I took the test almost 6 years ago. The question was, which of the following is a legal place to park your vehicle, and one of the choices was, "on railroad tracks."

 

Busses have to stop before crossing tracks, don't they?

 

- Andy

[KTrainExp]

The train will destroy your car, bit if you want it to kill you in your car it won't. Remember the guy who parked his car on Metro Link tracks in LA a few years ago. He was tring to kill him self, but instead of standing on the tracks he sit there in his car and the train derailed and i think 3 people were killed leaving the a@%hole alive in his car.

 

See...people are stupid these days. If you want to kill yourself, go jump off a bridge or something....And that fire hose thing was funny! Imagine something like that happens to somebody's car whose parking in the bus lanes! That would be hilarious would a picture of a bus with eyes saying, "LOL. YOUR FUNNY PARKING IN A BUS LANE. YOU SHOULD BE A COMEDIAN ONE DAY."

[sebbieprops]

This is why you don't park in front of a fire hydrent.

 

Ah, that's a good one!