Car 54, where are you?

Stuck in the impound lot, probably.

Dozens of detectives say they have had their department cars towed -- by their own department.

On at least 35 occasions, detectives on the job -- in the middle of making arrests, working cases or testifying in court — have walked outside to find their cars hooked by a special detail of the Internal Affairs Bureau that hunts for illegally parked cop cars.

"The policy is ridiculous," fumed Michael Palladino, president of the detectives union. "It's an absolute waste of the taxpayers' money."

Getting the police cars back from the impound lot can take up to six hours, often while the detectives are clocking overtime.

Shortly after City Hall's crackdown on city-issued parking permits in 2008, the special IAB detail issued more than 1,000 summonses to city cops and detectives.

Police spokesman Paul Browne maintained that no cars were towed while detectives were making arrests.

"Parking placards have never authorized police to park in front of hydrants, in bus stops or in cross walks or on sidewalks," he said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/detectives_getting_tow_nailed_KmuIlC8eJkI9k1WDyHFOcJ

Jerry Seinfeld is the master of the parking domain!

The NYPD is investigating the sitcom star after his driver apparently tried to "yada yada" parking by using an expired police parking placard to cruise into a spot right in front of the studios for his new show "The Marriage Ref."

The driver pulled a Kramer-like move when he put the placard in the window of the funnyman’s car after pulling up to the studios Wednesday at West 57th Street between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, Seinfeld’s reps said.

The driver – who was identified by sources as retired narcotics officer, Sgt. Timothy Gallagher – then helped Seinfeld inside, where he worked on the new show, which appears on NBC.

A TV reporter spotted the ID in the window and asked Mayor Bloomberg about why Seinfeld was parking with a police placard.

The mayor was stumped.

"I have absolutely no idea," he said, during his press conference yesterday.

NYPD big wigs leaped into action after being shown a picture of the placard. They determined it belonged to a Bronx narcotics officer, who sources said is not Gallagher, but a female detective who still works for the NYPD.

The placard should have been turned in when it expired in 2007. When it was active, it only allowed parking near the Bronx narcotics bureau office.

The female detective told investigators said she didn’t know anything about it — and the only thing she knew about Seinfeld was from watching him on TV, sources said.

Improperly using a placard is an administrative code violation, and could result in a small fine.

The comedian’s rep said he has not been interviewed by cops.

"Jerry has no knowledge about this placard, nor was he aware it was being used," said Elizabeth Clark Zoia. "Now that it has been brought to our attention, it will not be used again."

She also said that Seinfeld is not angry at the driver.

"Jerry feels that his drvier was going out of his way to help him and will not" be fired, she said.

[more at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/cops_look_into_why_jerry_seinfeld_y1peDggtws6z4MujNuXUxM]

After several months of complaints from residents of a new condominium tower in Long Island City, the police have moved a restricted parking area that was in front of the building.

Residents of 549 Borden Ave. now have about 15 parking spots on the curb to call their own after the city Department of Transportation removed the bright red “no standing” signs.

“It took probably six months from the initial petition I put together to the time it was moved, which was just days before Christmas,” said Marty Towey, a condo owner. “DOT does work — it just takes them a little time for them to do it.”

Towey, a retired FBI agent, attended at least two Community Board 2 meetings to complain about what he called excessive police parking in the blocks surrounding the 108th Precinct station house.

“What I learned from DOT is that these spots aren’t supposed to be used for police personal cars, they’re supposed to be used for official cars,” he said. “I never had a reserve parking for my personal car in my 26 years I worked for the Bureau in New York City.”

But the police parking spots are not gone entirely — the city agreed to move them over to Fifth Street, on the west side of the block.

“So we just kicked the can down the street a little,” said CB 2 Chairman Joseph Conley at the board’s monthly meeting last Thursday.

Conley said parking has periodically been a sore spot between civilians and the 108th Precinct, noting officers once parked their vehicles on the sidewalk at Murray Playground. One day when he complained, he said officers came by, checked the car and left without doing anything.

[more at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/lic_condo_regains_parking_zcIGKo816GU8uP3c3SknhI]

[Illegal parking by employees of the 108th Precinct has been documented here before:

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/11650
http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/11603 ]

Perfectly healthy scammers could fake their way to free parking on city streets by exploiting shoddy recordkeeping in a program for disabled drivers, a new audit claims.

City Controller [sic] John Liu says the city Transportation Department couldn't account for 22,000 holographic seals that make disabled parking permits official.

If scammers got hold of the seals, they could doctor the dashboard permits and park for free at meters, in no-parking zones and in other off-limits curbside spots.

"The application process for these permits is rigorous, and necessarily so," Liu said. "Unfortunately, the agency's own procedures fall far short of rigorous ... and leaves the city vulnerable to the issuance of fraudulent permits."

More at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/02/09/2010-02-09_scammers_could_park_for_free_thanks_to_city_confusion__liu.html

Last time I saw this was well over a year ago. Just last night I saw it again parked on the same block. So this morning I called New York City Department of Transportation, and two different representatives confirmed that there are only two valid parking permits issued by and to be used in New York City: the white rectangular shape placard with the big blue disability logo in the middle which you display on your dashboard for both on and off street parking, and the blue tag that hangs behind your rear mirror for off street parking. Anything other than these two are not issued by New York City. If you look closely at this picture, it seems like another copy was right behind the first one before it was laminated. So what is this and who issued it? I would really like to know.

The placard abuse continues at Park East Synagogue by the same individual with the same Cadillac with the obvious blessing of Inspector Murtagh and his gang of 19th precinct placard abusers. http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/11544

Here we see the Cadillac parked in the NO PARKING 7AM - 7 PM zone on the North side of East 68th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues using a bogus placard un-ticketed and untowed.

What does it take to finally deal with this individual?

As it stands in this area the only thing restrictive parking signs do is prevent local area residents from having some much needed curbside parking in their neighborhood while at the same time reserving spots for scofflaws.

The Park east abuse went so far as to embarrass Mayor Bloomberg in a story in the NY Post yet it continues in different forms to this day. Seems to me no surprise this kind of crap goes on around here as we have a police precinct commanded by someone who encourages his own people to violate placard parking rules themselves.

What community good is this serving and what quality of life benefit do residents get from this kind of illegal nonsense right next store to a police precinct I ask?

All such abused restricted parking areas which end up full of scofflaw vehicles due to lack of enforcement should be returned to the community as normal street parking and make an end to it. In every area that was done the problem was solved.

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/558

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/559

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/3888

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/9003

The pending trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has thrown lower Manhattan into a tizzy, for good reasons. Foremost, of course, is the dread of revisiting the horrors of that day, mingled with fears of new attacks linked to the trial. But there are also concerns that the NYPD's aggressive countermeasures will impede movement, worsen traffic and suffocate the economy of the area, pockets of which never recovered fully from police-ordered street closures and other 9/11 aftershocks. These concerns could be assuaged by a tough, zero tolerance stance on parking placard abuse by government employees.

[more at: http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/01/25/to-thwart-terror-trial-traffic-snarls-curb-placard-abuse/]

I have seen this car parked on the same spot on a 'No Standing' zone on my way to work every day for at least two years (actually, it's not the same car; he had a red Lexus before buying this 2009 model a few months ago). The permit is from the Police Department of the City of New York School Safety Division, and expired December 31, 2009. The permit appears to be a photocopy, with the license plate handwritten at the bottom. It is placed upside down under the registration and inspection certificate, so it is hard to see.

The car is parked there all day, because i sometimes see it still there on my way home. I have never in all this time seen him get a ticket.

Of particular irony is that he parks illegally right next to a parking garage, and that the vanity license plate makes it clear that the owner is very religious.

Parking at a hydrant and using a placard for a different car (wrong plate # on it) is a double no-no.

This is the same hydrant featured here:
http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/11603

Private SUV parked parked at a hydrant in the West Village on a Saturday night. It's been there at least an hour an half. No doubt on official business at the clubs in the neighborhood!

[Moderator edit: removed language stating that this is a fake permit. This permit is not fake, as it appears to be the new 2010 NYPD Restricted placard]

The week before last, a white Dodge van with dark windows and no license plate sat parked in the middle of Time's Square for at least two days without receiving a ticket. Tourists and office workers ambled around it until the day before New Year's Eve, when someone finally called the police, who sent out a bomb squad and a robot to inspect the vehicle before declaring it safe. For the most part, the incident was viewed as a cautionary tale about the war on terror: while our eyes are trained on the skies, our crosswalks remain vulnerable. But in some precincts it was seen as part of a smaller-scale war that has been going on longer: the war against parking placards. The van didn't raise alarm, police said, because its dashboard displayed a sign for a police fraternal organization, the Detectives Crime Clinic of New Jersey and New York (The group said the placard may have been stolen; police said the van-which contained fake Burberry scarves-belonged to a sidewalk vendor.)

The move was bold, but the tactic was familiar. Parking placards, like bobbleheads and fuzzy dice, are a long-standing feature of the landscape of urban windshields. They are distributed to city and state agencies--police, clergy, housing--to be used by workers when on official business. In practice, they are treated as twenty-four-hour parking passes, and are highly coveted. (In 2008, the Post reported a spate of break-ins in Washington Heights, where thieves smashed a number of windshields to steal the placards within.) Tabloid photographers never tire of busting prominent placard-abusers. Reported offenders have included Kimora Lee Simmons, whose driver, a moonlighting prison guard, put up a Department of Corrections placard while taking her shopping at Barneys, and Ron Perelman, who, according to the Post, stuck a sign from a charity called the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation on the dashboard of his Yukon Denali S.U.V. (A spokesperson for Perelman said that the car in question belonged to an employee.) According to Wiley Norvell, the communications director for the pedestrian-advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, last week happened to be a big one for high-profile placard abuse: Justice A. Kirke Bartley, who presided over the Astor trial, was caught using a state-police placard to avoid feeding meters near his Upper East Side home so was Pedro Espada, Jr., the State Senate majority leader, whose car was parked in front of a fire hydrant.

Mayor Bloomberg has cut the number of city-issued placards in recent years, but, Norvell said, the problem is systemic: because parking agents don't want to risk ticketing other civil servants, they don't enforce the rules. "If you can get away with throwing any old thing on your dashboard, it doesn't matter how many placards are issued," he said.

.....

[more available to New Yorker subscribers: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2010/01/18/100118ta_talk_widdicombe]

A 108th Precinct employee showing courtesy, professionalism and respect by parking in front of a hydrant (yes, I know it's hard to see, but it's there).

Deputy Inspector Thomas Kavanagh has his work cut out for him, because his employees routinely block hydrants, park on sidewalks, in crosswalks, bike lanes and no standing zones.

Continued and clear abuse of placard regulations which clearly state that placard parking is never permitted in NO STANDING ANYTIME zones.

Despite a letter from CB 8 as follows:

The City of New York
Manhattan Community Board 8

May 28, 2009

Inspector James Murtagh
Commanding Officer
NYPD-19th Precinct
153 East 67th Street
New York, NY 10065

Dear Inspector Murtagh,

Community Board 8M has recently received a number of complaints from the public about vehicles displaying “NYPD-19th Precinct” placards parking illegally at the two small center islands located at either end of 66th Street between Second and Third Avenues.

As you know, these islands are signed “No Standing Anytime” and it is illegal for any vehicles to park at curbs with this signage, even with a city issued placard.

We would appreciate it if you would remind your officers of this fact.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Ludorf Jonathan Horn and Charles Warren

Members of the NYPD apparently fully supported by their commanding officer continue to thumb their above-the-law noses at the law and civilian authority.

For more posts follow links provided below:

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/454

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/1000

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/1068

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/1069

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/1072

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/1073

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/1074

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/1085

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/8122

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/8389

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/8525
http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/9080

I don't think there is a 519 precinct. The placard says "Legal Bureau." It looks like a photocopy too, which is illegal. Not to mention the fact that it has expired.

A car registered to state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada was seen parked illegally at a hydrant outside his Bronx home sporting a State Police parking placard.

The State Police insisted Espada didn't get the Homeland Security Office's permit from them, and suggested it might have come from the city's Department of Transportation.

But city officials said they don't distribute police parking permits to legislators and have no idea how Espada had one.

The Office of Homeland Security referred questions to the state's Emergency Management Office, where an official had no immediate explanation of how the placard ended up with Espada.

The senator issued a statement last night saying the permit is legit.

"While I cannot check at the moment because I am in conference at the Senate retreat in upstate New York, I am certain that the police placard was issued at the request of a member of my staff," he said.

The Democrat didn't address the issue of why he was parked at a hydrant. Parking at a hydrant is illegal at all times, even for those with official permits.

[more at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/pedro_park_outrage_mBnYUVDSWHWOnx0nbfpouJ]

The Supreme Court Justice who sentenced Anthony Marshall to prison for stealing his mother Brook Astor's fortune has been caught illegally using a parking placard issued by the NYPD. The Post, which, like the Daily News, loves busting parking placard abusers, caught Justice A. Kirke Bartley routinely parking his SUV at expired parking meters around his Upper East Side neighborhood. Judges who request the placards are not allowed to use them while they're off duty, but Bartley's ride was observed parked at an expired one-hour meter three times last week, without a single ticket. Confronted by the tabloid, the judge confessed—but refused to pay his debt to society.

[more at: http://gothamist.com/2010/01/04/judge_in_astor_trial_busted_for_abu.php]

Guilty as parked!

The judge in the high-profile trial of Brooke Astor's son has admitted acting like he's above the law when it comes to parking in his Upper East Side neighborhood -- dodging tickets with the help of NYPD traffic agents who turn a blind eye to His Honor's brazen violations.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley told The Post he was "wrong" to routinely park his black Ford Expedition at un-fed meters -- which he got away with thanks to a police placard, which is available only to a privileged few.

Even though the placard declares, "This vehicle is on official police business," Bartley displays it in his windshield when his car is at home.

[more at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/judge_abuses_his_park_bench_perk_kxUYsUO8EH1ykMBNS2SqVI]

This guy already brought Albany to a disgraceful grinding halt. Now he is putting his constituents in immediate danger by blocking a fire hydrant only days after a second devastating fire that destroyed several businesses despite the best efforts of hundreds of fire fighters.

Two strips of the main shopping street are demolished ruins of burned-out buildings, but this elected representative doesn't seem to think fire fighting is more important than his own personal parking convenience.

A "law enforcement" placard left on the dashboard of a van that sparked a terror scare in Times Square was stolen, the head of the nonprofit that issues them charged Friday.

But the NYPD slammed the group for even making the placards, saying it might take "legal action" to stop them.

The placard looks so much like a real police parking pass it fooled a cop who checked on the illegally parked Dodge Ram van on Dec. 30.

Two hours later, a 911 call about the mysterious van - with no plates and blacked-out windows - sparked a bomb scare, replete with street closures and office evacuations.

Cops say the van - which contained only knockoff Burberry scarves - belongs to George Freyre, 36, who was arraigned Friday.

The Palisades Park, N.J., street peddler - who says he is not the owner - was charged with a felony for allegedly forging the expiration date on the van's temporary registration.

He also faces a violation of the city administrative code for unlawful possession of official police cards.

[more at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/01/02/2010-01-02_uproar_over_faux_pass_on_van.html]

An identification placard in a van that caused a security scare in Times Square a day before the city's massive New Year's celebration wasn't supposed to be used as a parking permit, according to a fraternal group for police officers and other law enforcement buffs that issued the card.

Police department officials said traffic agents and officers apparently overlooked a van parked illegally on Broadway for at least two days because of the windshield placard from a nonprofit group called the Detectives Crime Clinic of New Jersey and New York. The group said Friday it doesn't know how the card ended up in the van.

A private security guard finally grew suspicious Wednesday because the van had no license plates and blacked-out windows. Police blocked off part of the square for hours and two high-rise buildings, home to Nasdaq and publishing company Conde Nast, were partially evacuated.

A bomb squad examined the vehicle a day before the city's New Year's Eve celebration, which draws hundreds of thousands of revelers from around the world to the heart of Times Square to see the ball drop at midnight.

The incident raised a question: Why would officers patrolling security-sensitive Times Square give a free pass to a van simply because it had an ID placard from a little-known nonprofit group?

[more at: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/02/us/AP-US-Times-Square-Suspicious-Van.html]

A bogus placard on the windshield of a suspicious-looking van played a role in why the Police Department did not investigate the vehicle for two days while it was parked in Times Square, a police spokesman said Thursday.

The vehicle’s owner, meanwhile, was arrested and charged with a felony.

The van was reported to the police Wednesday morning by a security officer at Condé Nast, which has offices in Times Square. The authorities closed nearby streets for two hours and evacuated part of the Condé Nast and Nasdaq buildings as bomb squad officers arrived with a robot to search the vehicle.

The windows on the vehicle, a white 1997 Dodge Ram Van, had been blacked out, and it had no license plates. It had been parked on Broadway between 41 and 42nd Streets since Monday, and it should have aroused police suspicions before officers were called to investigate, said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman.

[more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/nyregion/01truck.html]

Police officers surrounded and began examining a suspicious-looking panel truck parked and apparently abandoned in Times Square on Wednesday morning. The truck, a 1992 Dodge with tinted windows covered by a tarpaulin, was discovered at Broadway and 42nd Street, near where the annual Times Square New Year's Eve celebration is set to take place under heavy security provisions.

Officials said the van had apparently not been moved for some days.

Police barricaded 7th Avenue from 44th to 40th streets, directing all traffic towards 8th Avenue by 12:30 p.m. in precaution. A planned rehearsal for the New Year's Eve ball drop was delayed.

The van had a "bogus" placard in its windshield for a nonexistent New York/New Jersey police entity, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department's chief spokesman. The placard said something like, "detectives, crime scene, New York, New Jersey area," said Mr. Browne, who said he would seek to explain what the placard said more precisely.

"It's not an actual law enforcement entity," he said.

[more at: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/abandoned-van-prompts-police-response-on-times-square/]

Seen this vehicle parked in violation. THE OFF DUTY NYPD TRAFFIC AGENT HAS HIS OFFICAL NYPD ID CARD PHOTO COPIED on his dashboard to avoid getting tickets......

Vehicles are supposed to park with the front of the vehicle sticking out.

Last week brought another prime example of Bloomberg administration schizophrenia on urban sustainability. After his flight back from the Copenhagen climate summit, the mayor's first stop was a former auto pound in College Point, Queens, where he met up with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to break ground on the city's new $750 million police academy.

The facility will be designed to attain a LEED Silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The press release touted its green roofs, rainwater harvesting, and energy-saving building envelopes. Good stuff. But how green can this complex be when it also contains a 3,000-space parking garage?

The current police academy, located on East 20th Street, is a convenient walk from the subway at Union Square or 23rd Street. At the new site, the nearest subway station is more than a mile away. Those 3,000 parking spaces will be a huge enticement for police recruits to drive to the academy, and they'll come at enormous taxpayer expense.

[more at: http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/12/21/police-academy-2-starring-a-3000-car-garage/]

They tend to the sick in body and spirit, as well to those who have departed this mortal soil.

But all too often, their reward is a parking summons.

At least that's what many members of the clergy lamented in City Council hearings last month that led to unanimous passage of a bill expanding the rights of the clergy to receive city-issued free parking permits.

The bill was vetoed last week by Mayor Bloomberg. But Monday, members of the Council's Transportation Committee are set to override that veto. The full Council will follow suit Dec. 21, with the bill becoming law after 90 days.

Similarly, the committee will vote to override a veto of a bill to impose a five-minute grace period before tickets can be issued for overtime parking at muni-meters and violation of alternate-side parking rules. The clergy parking bill had its genesis with parking tickets issued to a rabbi for the Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation in Washington Heights.

[more at: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/12/14/2009-12-14_untitled__grace14q.html]

No placard, just a dashboard full of police junk (vest, hat, PBA card - showing badge # 25558). It's his 3rd time in this spot, so it's not police business. No ticket though!

We got a tip yesterday about an errant driver hogging a curbside spot in a residential area:

So, outside my house is a street with two hour parking. Today a Jaguar with dealer plates was parked there all day. When I checked, it was because there was an FD placard on the car.

No news there, right? Except our tipster was Streetsblog LA's Damien Newton, and the placard in question was emblazoned with the logo of the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association.

Placards without borders. Gotta love it.

[more at: http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/12/03/eyes-on-the-street-placard-abuse-from-sea-to-shining-sea/]

There is a spot reserved in front of 23 Mercer Street for NYP plates. There are no time restrictions so it is effectively a permanent spot for this Volvo that is always parked there. I'm guessing the owner lives in the building. It has been there for 5 days straight now. Ridiculous. Pay for a parking lot like the rest of us!

He's still there! This guy has an exclusive private parking spot that he (and only he) gets to use anytime! I guess NYC has a private parking policy for the elite. It's in a NO PARKING/NO PARKING ANYTIME space but it seems to be OK. Never a ticket on this car. It has EMT plates and that about does the trick.

ALSO, no need to move for alternate-side of the street cleaning either. He ignores that completely while everybody else has to move their cars, but again, I guess the rules don't apply to EMT's parking in front of their houses.

Cops are hunting for a suspect, possibly fed up over parking tickets, who may fancy himself a rubber Robin Hood.

He slashed the tires of three NYPD Parking Enforcement cars in broad daylight on Monday.

The brazen tire slasher was captured on an NYPD surveillance camera.

[more at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/12/03/2009-12-03_ticketing_backlash_parking_patrol_cars_slashed_in_wchester_sq.html]

We posted the link in today's headlines, but you really need the visuals that go with this story of bike-lane blocking, curb-mounting Sunday motorists, and the police who sanction them. Via Gothamist, the video comes courtesy of Ink Lake blogger Peter Kaufman, a Brooklyn Heights resident who noticed that all the cars illegally parked on Henry Street during Sunday services at First Presbyterian sport postcards on the dash. They say "Church Business," and the 84th Precinct honors them as if they were etched on stone tablets.

John del Signore at Gothamist got some officers at the 84th to explain the compact between police and the church:

Officer Brandon Bunting fielded our call and admitted that "it's a sensitive issue. I live in Harlem, and sometimes people park three cars wide there. But you're not allowed to block the bike lane, placard or no placard; if some kid is riding his bike there and has to go out in traffic, it could be bad. At the same time, it's a sensitive community issue and we try to work out a compromise." Another officer said, "For years we have allowed people to park in front of the church while they worship."

These wink-and-a-nod agreements are hardly exceptional. Last year, Uncivil Servants shined a light on an Upper East Side synagogue, the Park East, that fashioned bogus parking placards for its employees, all with the tacit approval of the local precinct.

As Streetsbloggers suggested this morning, think of what a blessing it would be if our local houses of worship tried to welcome their flocks in a way that doesn't maximize driving and endanger other people using the street.

[more at: http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/12/02/do-unto-others-church-parking-placards-put-cyclists-in-harms-way/]

Several months ago, in response to a civilian request, NYC DOT daylighted the northwest corners of both Douglass Street and Fifth Avenue and Baltic Street and Fifth Avenue as a safety measure. Unfortunately, both corners are frequently occupied by illegally parked cars.

Both streets run eastbound across Fifth Avenue, and both are offset, with the streets on the east side of Fifth Avenue about 20 feet north of the streets on the west side of Fifth. This creates a dangerous situation, in which cars heading to and through the intersection can't see pedestrians in or entering the crosswalk until they're nearly in the intersection, and vice versa. The daylighting of the corners vastly improved visibility -- which is negated when a vehicle parks illegally at the corner.

Today, the spot on the northwest corner of Douglass at Fifth Avenue was occupied by a late-model silver Toyota RAV4, with a police permit that appeared to be photocopied. The space is marked No Standing Anytime.

Unsurprisingly, the corresponding spot at Baltic and Fifth Avenue was also occupied by a van, which totally obscured the intersection (it did not sport a placard -- just Pennsylvania plates). I pointed it out to a passing Traffic Enforcement Agent, who wrote a ticket. When I mentioned the RAV4 with the parking placard at Douglass, she rolled her eyes, said that TEAs hate placard parkers because they park everywhere with no regard, but said there was "nothing they can do."

For at least a year now, the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights has been giving parishioners parking placards for their cars when parking in the bike lane on Henry Street. The placards explain to police that occupants of the vehicle are conducting "Church Business." One local resident, Peter Kaufman, believes "they have some 'understanding' with the 84th Precinct, whereby if they put a sign in their window that they are attending church, they don't get ticketed."

[more at: http://gothamist.com/2009/12/01/police_let_parishoners_turn_bike_la.php]

Elizabeth Press sends these shots of the northeast corner of Hoyt and Schermerhorn in downtown Brooklyn. In what may be a first for New York City, this nifty little DOT reclamation project includes bike racks installed on the roadbed, not the sidewalk. More on that later. First, take a minute to appreciate all the ways this project, which cost a mere $5,000, according to Ben Muessig at the Brooklyn Paper, has improved life for New Yorkers.

[more at: http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/11/30/nypd-sidewalk-hogs-make-way-for-bike-parking-and-benches/]

i live across the street.. saw police car stop and look at car id in windoe and get back into the car without ticketing it.

wrong plate, wrong precinct, wrong idea

Get this guy a map.

[not exactly a crosswalk, but still illegal]

A Bronx traffic enforcement agent is suing the city, claiming she was assaulted by an off-duty cop to whom she was trying to issue a ticket. Tarsha Bonneau said she was trying to ticket Police Officer Kenlly Nunez for blocking a bus stop June 22 when the enraged cop grabbed her hand-held computer and threw it into the agent's car.

Bonneau claims she suffered serious nerve damage in her wrist. Nunez was charged with obstructing governmental administration.

[more at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/traffic_agent_sues_bus_stop_bop_brzlmpvuqAh6UULs7aghCP]

The very next day he parked halfway in the crosswalk and left it there for 2 days!

I guess all you need to do is to put a EMT jacket in your rear window and file for a EMT license plate to have a guaranteed private parking spot. This guy has done it for over a year now and has the greatest deal of the century.

This car parks here every evening in a clearly labeled "No Parking Anytime" zone and apparently never receives a ticket. He doesn't even move the car for alternate side of the street street cleaning while the rest of us are moving our cars around the block and waiting for hours to park again. The one time I asked a local 24th precinct cop about it he said that there was nothing he could do.

This guy takes this truck home every night and parks it on the streets of Dyker Heights Brooklyn. Not only shouldn't he parking it on the street, but more than not it is parked illegally, like pictured here, about 4 feet from a fire hydrant. Other times it's parked in front of a church, a school, or in a no standing zone. But NEVER in front of HIS house. And why does he take it home? It is an educational vehicle, not something he would need to take to an emergency in the middle of the night.

This officer parks his car every day either close to a fire hydrant or under a no parking area.
That photo was taken a couple of months back. Now the officer owns another vehicle but continues breaking the law.

The City Council overwhelmingly approved a bill on Monday that would provide a five-minute grace period to drivers who are late to feed a meter or move their cars on street-cleaning days, setting the stage for a showdown with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who vowed to veto the legislation.

Despite Mr. Bloomberg's criticism of the measure, which he said was misguided and would lead to chaos, the Council approved it by 47 to 2, a vote well in excess of the two-thirds support needed to override a veto.

.....

Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group, also opposed the grace period, saying it would increase illegal parking and make it impossible for traffic agents to do their jobs. "This is irresponsible pandering that will lead to more arguments at the curbside," he said.

[more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/nyregion/17parking.html]

A Queens neighborhood is boiling mad over a broken NYPD promise not to hog parking spots with civilian employees' cars.

Ever since four police units moved into a vacant office building in College Point last month, neighbors say, parking there has become a nightmare.

When the NYPD applied in 2005 to relocate the squads from Queens Village to the 14th Avenue building, the community board insisted on a condition -- that cops park in a lot across the street.

The NYPD purchased 220 parking spots in the lot and vowed that would be ample parking for its 200 or so employees who'd be there at any given time.

But when they finally arrived in October, cops immediately began clogging up the streets with their cars, residents say.

A spokesman acknowledged that the NYPD underestimated the number of spots it needed. He said it was looking for another lot nearby.

[http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/nabe_cops_parking_row_Z7UQ7g3VOayVMr4mtnnPBI]

Safe bet that the driver of this vehicle was at the Yellow Hook Grill (in Bayridge) right accross the street, not on any errand of mercy for the BSSP (Brooklyn South Safety Patrol Shomrim - Boro Park) I don't know why, but that grill tends to attract placard abusers. Either that or there is a statistically unlikely frequency of emergencies within 20 yards of their front door... Especially around midnight (as in this case) when nothing else around is open and parking is hard to find.

This car is parked daily on Ascan Ave in Queens between Queens Blvd and Austin St. where there is daily alternate side of the street parking and 2 hour meter. This car abuses their permit on a daily basis. They do not move it for alternate side of the street parking or pay the meter ever. Every time I say something to a traffic cop about it they say there is nothing they can do because it has a permit when you can clearly see that it is not here on official business considering it is here everyday.

On date/time picture was taken is a Federal holiday and all city agencies are closed hence should be ticketed on that day all day!!

Downtown is turning into a real walker's wonderland.

The city has almost finished creating a pedestrian plaza at the corner of Hoyt and Schermerhorn streets, offering bipeds a bit of space in the bustling neighborhood.

The $5,000 project brings a 17-foot by 70-foot walking and sitting area to the front of the main entrance to the Hoyt-Schermerhorn train station -- protected from traffic and newly painted cycling routes by a row of potted plants.

"It's some much-needed room to breath on a very crowded sidewalk in Downtown Brooklyn," said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, the pedestrian and bike advocacy group. "Previously, this is space that was sitting under parked cars the entire day while pedestrians squeezed onto a few feet of sidewalk. Now that's really turned on its head."

The project -- which reclaimed a chunk of sidewalk space often covered by parked police cars -- started ahead of the expected November launch date and will be completed in the coming weeks when workers install two benches in the piazza, according to the Department of Transportation.

[more at: http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/44/32_44_bm_schermerhorn_plaza.html]

This one just has a union permit. Is that even a legal dash permit?
The employees of Fire Squad Co. 1 often park on the sidewalk near the fire house. This is ironic because a) there is a half block of reserved street parking for their private vehicles directly across from the fire house b) there is a public parking garage next door in case the free spots are taken and c) by parking (and driving!) on the sidewalk, they endanger the very citizens they are sworn to protect. Cars coming in and out of the garage can't see pedestrians because of personal FDNY cars on sidewalk. Ridiculous! 9/29/09 9:30 a.m.

The employees of Fire Squad Co. 1 often park on the sidewalk near the fire house. This is ironic because a) there is a half block of reserved street parking for their private vehicles directly across from the fire house b) there is a public parking garage next door in case the free spots are taken and c) by parking (and driving!) on the sidewalk, they endanger the very citizens they are sworn to protect. Cars coming in and out of the garage can't see pedestrians because of personal FDNY cars on sidewalk. Ridiculous! 9/29/09 9:30 a.m.

You would think that the first thing they teach at the fire academy would be how important it is, when responding to a fire, to have access to a hydrant.

I guess not. Here's a shiny new Escalade with a non-placard issued by the Uniformed Firefighters Association (Stephen J. Cassidy, President; Joseph A. Miccio, Recording Secretary) parked right in front of a fire hydrant.

The non-placard reads: "This Vehicle Is On Official UFA Business," yet the SUV was seen in front of a residential building on a Sunday afternoon.