On West 25th Street adjacent to the recreation center, there were numerous open parking spaces. But the Parks employee who has a Fraternal Order of Police license plate and sticker in his front window—in addition to an obscured permit and Parks Enforcement t-shirt on his dashboard—wants to parks in the No Parking Construction Zone space. He really, really wants to claim this space as his. When we start taking photos, the Parks security guard at the door immediately gets on her radio to her co-workers and demands to know what we are doing. "Taking pictures," we reply. We then start to slowly walk away after taking pictures; after all, we're not the ones in violation of the law. "Hurry, they're walking away!" she barks in to her radio. We're already a block away when a guy comes running up to us huffing and puffing, demanding to know what we were doing. "Taking pictures," we again reply. "It's a construction zone." We politely add that if he wasn't doing anything wrong then there's no problem. "I got a permit," he tells us. We again say that if he wasn't doing anything wrong then there's no problem. (We also can tell this guy really wishes he were a law enforcement officer.) We point out there are many construction zones in Chelsea. Has he noticed? He thinks about it, then suggests we should 311 about that. We reply that's a good idea and wish him a nice day.

We were then thinking about calling 311 about his illegal parking, but instead we decided to first show the pictures to traffic agent, who we conveniently found at Dunkin' Donuts. After all, traffic agents know the law and enforce the law. We asked these questions:
Q: If a Parks permit like this is hidden behind registration and inspection stickers, is it valid?
A: No.
Q: Can a Parks Department employee park like this in a No Parking Construction Zone space?
A: No.
Q: Does the Parks Enforcement t-shirt on the dashboard qualify this car as parking legally in this spot because it says Enforcement?
A: No.
Q: Is what this guy did a ticketable offense?
A: Yes.
There you have it. And by the way, real law enforcement officers are sworn to uphold and respect the laws and not hide behind a veil of self-conferred privileges.