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."