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Ex-MTA board member parking $76G Jag illegally, ignoring order to turn in permit

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Trainspotter

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Alan Friedberg left the MTA board six years ago, but he's still tooling around town in his snazzy red Jaguar with a police-issued parking permit.

 

Friedberg defied an order from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to return an MTA police-issued permit that lets him park just about anywhere.

 

On Sunday, Friedberg took full advantage of the perk - stowing the $76,000 luxury vehicle in a restricted zone on 43rd St. near Broadway theaters. His traveling party Sunday included his wife, wrapped in a full-length fur coat, and another couple.

 

"This vehicle is on official police business," states the MTA Police Department placard displayed prominently inside the 2008 Jag.

 

Last year, the MTA directed 13 former board members, including Friedberg, 75, to return the coveted parking permits after Daily News reports on the perk. Two other past transit honchos have also not turned in their placards, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said, declining to give their names.

 

"This is self-entitlement at its worst," Transportation Alternatives spokesman Wiley Norvell said. "The free ride for longtime placard holders like Mr. Friedberg needs to end. Traffic and parking woes take a big enough toll without free riders adding to the problem."

 

A Manhattan resident who also has a country home in Connecticut, Friedberg said he had "no particular comment" about the parking placard.

 

He did say, however, that he was a "pretty heavy worker" when serving on the unpaid board for about eight years before leaving in 2002.

 

The MTA plans no action against Friedberg, as the pass expires Feb. 1, Ortiz said. Friedberg said he was heading to New Jersey to visit a relative Sunday when he briefly stopped to take a look at a demonstration.

 

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani appointed Friedberg, president of an investment corporation and a Giuliani fund-raiser, to the MTA's board.

 

Four years ago, Friedberg was arrested for writing a threatening letter to a 73-year-old woman in the exclusive Woodridge Lake resort community in Goshen, Conn., where he has a home.

 

The letter warned her to stay out of a minor dispute involving the resort's governing board - and was signed "TonySuprano," a misspelled reference to the TV character. Friedberg said Tuesday it was meant as a joke, noting that he apologized and the case was settled.

 

The agency also directed former board members, and spouses of current and former board members, to return more than 140 free E-ZPass tags, commuter train passes and MetroCards. All of the electronic tags and transit passes have been collected or deactivated, the MTA said Tuesday.

 

BY PETE DONOHUE and ANDREW THEODORAKIS

DAILY NEWS WRITERS

January 7th 2009

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SubwayGuy

SubwayGuy

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more rich a-holes gaming the system for money and benefits...there is really a HUGE difference between the way they think and the way everyone else lives.

 

you think this is bad, look at corporate america...its everywhere. a lot of rich people think the rules do not apply to them.

 

nail this guy - nail ALL of them - where it hurts them the most as punishment for their abuses...by taking their MONEY and their BENEFITS away!!!

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Trainspotter

Trainspotter

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Perk jerk turns in MTA pass

Update

 

BY PETE DONOHUE

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

January 8th 2009

 

alg_jag.jpg

 

Another perk bites the dust.

 

Former MTA board member Alan Friedberg surrendered his police-issued parking permit on Wednesday, the same day the Daily News reported that the Jaguar-driving developer was improperly using the priceless perk.

 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority last year told Friedberg and other former board members to return the coveted permits.

 

The placards bear the seal of the MTA Police Department and allow parking just about anywhere.

 

The News photographed Friedberg's 2008 snazzy red car parked in a restricted midtown zone Sunday with the permit displayed on the windshield.

 

He returned the permit early yesterday afternoon, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

 

Friedberg, who is currently on the board of the city's Economic Development Corp., was appointed to the MTA by Rudy Guiliani and served for eight years until 2003.

 

Transportation Alternatives, which has crusaded against the proliferation and abuse of government-issued permits, welcomed Friedberg's maneuver.

 

"No one in New York City is entitled to free parking just because they have influence," said Wiley Norvell, spokesperson for Transportation Alternatives. "We need to trim these placards down to the bone in 2009."

 

The Bloomberg administration cut city-issued placards by 54% last year.

 

The MTA last year slashed the number of authority-issued permits by 15% to 295, the authority said.

 

The MTA also deactivated or collected more than 140 free E-ZPasses, commuter train passes and MetroCards that were doled out to former board members and some spouses.

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MTR Admiralty

MTR Admiralty

Posted
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Perk jerk turns in MTA pass

Update

 

BY PETE DONOHUE

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

January 8th 2009

 

alg_jag.jpg

 

Another perk bites the dust.

 

Former MTA board member Alan Friedberg surrendered his police-issued parking permit on Wednesday, the same day the Daily News reported that the Jaguar-driving developer was improperly using the priceless perk.

 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority last year told Friedberg and other former board members to return the coveted permits.

 

The placards bear the seal of the MTA Police Department and allow parking just about anywhere.

 

The News photographed Friedberg's 2008 snazzy red car parked in a restricted midtown zone Sunday with the permit displayed on the windshield.

 

He returned the permit early yesterday afternoon, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

 

Friedberg, who is currently on the board of the city's Economic Development Corp., was appointed to the MTA by Rudy Guiliani and served for eight years until 2003.

 

Transportation Alternatives, which has crusaded against the proliferation and abuse of government-issued permits, welcomed Friedberg's maneuver.

 

"No one in New York City is entitled to free parking just because they have influence," said Wiley Norvell, spokesperson for Transportation Alternatives. "We need to trim these placards down to the bone in 2009."

 

The Bloomberg administration cut city-issued placards by 54% last year.

 

The MTA last year slashed the number of authority-issued permits by 15% to 295, the authority said.

 

The MTA also deactivated or collected more than 140 free E-ZPasses, commuter train passes and MetroCards that were doled out to former board members and some spouses.

Yeah I read it today...

It sounds a bit awkward, but I think the existing board along with the top dogs/execs/big enchiladas should pay to use the system as well, why should they go off unscathed? They are not the transit workers who have to use the system everyday because the system is their workplace.. they get all these benefits while we have to suffer. It is unfair, they should pay as well.

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SubwayGuy

SubwayGuy

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Yeah I read it today...

It sounds a bit awkward, but I think the existing board along with the top dogs/execs/big enchiladas should pay to use the system as well, why should they go off unscathed? They are not the transit workers who have to use the system everyday because the system is their workplace.. they get all these benefits while we have to suffer. It is unfair, they should pay as well.

 

Exactly. The whole problem with our society is rich people acting with a sense of entitlement and taking more than their fair share when they already have more than enough. It throws the whole system out of balance.

 

Rich people who can afford to pay for parking and public transportation should not be given free $. Meanwhile it is the poor and middle classes who get nickel and dimed when they are the ones who can least afford it.

 

Hell, look at banks. If you have a lot of money to put in, you don't get fees, you get a checking account that pays interest for free, and you get free checks from the bank and have a personal representative assigned to your account.

 

If you're not, you're hit with "minimum balance" fees all the time to get the "privilege" of a checking account, your account will not pay interest, and you have to pay for all of your checks from the bank.

 

Attitudes like this is why things are so messed up.

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MTR Admiralty

MTR Admiralty

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Exactly. The whole problem with our society is rich people acting with a sense of entitlement and taking more than their fair share when they already have more than enough. It throws the whole system out of balance.

 

Rich people who can afford to pay for parking and public transportation should not be given free $. Meanwhile it is the poor and middle classes who get nickel and dimed when they are the ones who can least afford it.

 

Hell, look at banks. If you have a lot of money to put in, you don't get fees, you get a checking account that pays interest for free, and you get free checks from the bank and have a personal representative assigned to your account.

 

If you're not, you're hit with "minimum balance" fees all the time to get the "privilege" of a checking account, your account will not pay interest, and you have to pay for all of your checks from the bank.

 

Attitudes like this is why things are so messed up.

Dude, that bailout will go to feed these fat porks running the banks, you think every dollar and dime will go to save our banks?

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