The Daily News and Transportation Alternatives did a story together highlighting the impossibility of placard enforcement. They put together a bogus placard and parked in three parking-starved locations: in front of City Hall, in Downtown Brooklyn, and in Times Square.

As expected, a piece of paper which has been laminated was enough to grant unlimited parking rights to its bearer.

The "sting" didn't turn up anything we didn't know: the Police can't fight fraudulent placards, because the placard system is broken. The sting did call attention to Councilman Garodnick's "Authentic Permit Act," which will require that official placards bear a bar code, so that law enforcement can distinguish fake placards from real placards in an instant.

Read the article here: www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/22/2011-06-22_its_scofflaw_101_li_with_a_few_fake_placards_were_able_to_park_all_over_city_for.html