Following submission of this report community board 8 made this incredable announcement:

I am responding to your inquires regarding the Park East Synagogue parking placards. A meeting was held in the Community Board 8 office with Council Member Garodnick, Dan Pasquini, Inspector Murtagh, Barry Schneider and Joel Baum of the Park East Synagogue regarding parking placards used by their staff.

After a very lengthy and detailed discussion, Mr. Baum agreed to the recommendation that they reduce the number of placards to eight by the end of June 2008, then decrease by four next year by June 2009 and two the following year until the number of placards in use is reduced to two by June 2010.

These people are talking about illegal bogus placards made on a synagigue xerox machine as needed. This is beyond belief. A police precinct commander who doesn't know right from wrong empowered to enforce the law and a community board with no moral compass. No wonder the cops are parking illegally all over the neighborhood in violation of their contratual agreement with the city of New York.

people cmon respectfully a reality check here, this is a "protected" group. They wield alot of political power and i don't think a precinct commander is ready or is foolhardy enough to cross them, it would be career suicide.

Im going to create a church, the church of the magic 8 ball, im going to issue parking plaques to every member of my church since i have elected myself pope.

hey if one group can do it, why cant everyone else?

if you have lived in the city for more than 45 minutes you should know that religious leaders, especially ones in synagogues, are usually affluent in the CB and thus have quite an influence on the local commander. They get several spots in a zone WHERE YOU CAN'T PARK ANYWAY. Can you please just explain to me what the problem is and how it even effects you? You are bordering on a "well if they can do it, why can't I do it? kind of attitude"

Oh yeah and to your comment about no wonder cops are parked illegally all over the neighborhood, it is because there are few spots to park in. in fact i think the 19th pct blocks between 66-68 from park to 3rd ave are the least abused blocks. so what if they are parked in a zone that says no standing anytime because DOT didn't want to waste the money to change the signs to no standing except authorized: police vehicles. seriously. when you find a REAL violation like a hydrant or bus stop or extreme crosswalk violation, let us know. until then, stay off the air.

Members of the temple are not civil servants and therefore this violation does not fit the criteria you have set forth for this website.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02242008/news/columnists/park_east_parking_abuse_99096.htm

The commander of the 19th precianct certainly is a civil servant as is the council member and every parking enforcement agent and cop, but that really isn't the point and all you are doing is spinning. The mayor, another civil servant, recently announced a crackdown on illegal placards and placard abuse. Your argument does not hold water.

In my opinion all abused restricted parking areas should be reverted to alternate side parking. The original reason for the NO PARKING signs was traffic flow. I see no special metal used un the "holy" vehicles that allows matter to pass through them. This is abuse of a local community where curbside parking is in short supply. Businesses cannot get deiveries because cops are parked in the truck loading zones. Business also can't get customers in to their places of business because cops are parked at the meters all day and not oaying a penny.

Obviously wilnyc did not get my sarcasm, If you want my serious opinion NO church, religious group, cult etc. should have any special privileges over any one else,

Would a mosque in this city get a special parking privilege?,

so if i choose to worship a magic 8 ball, why cant I rent a storefront and issue parking passes to my members?,tell me what is the difference?

Like i said this is a protected group that wields alot of political power and no cop is ever going to cross them.

By the way it is also illegal to obscure your liscence plates.

My point is that the people using these bogus placards are not civil servants. Do you really think that the police dept has the resources to enforce every violation? We barely have enough cops just to answer the 911 calls on a busy friday night. Precincts in Brooklyn North are putting out 4 or 5 cars a night and you think they're gonna stop to write these non-sense summonses? Guess again.

There are parking enforcement agents walking around with their little scanners and printers assigned to deal with parking violations. Stop the excuses.

The point here is that the 19th Precinct was a party to a deal where they condoned the behavior. What we have here is a corrupt community board with no moral compass and a precinct commander who doesn't know right from wrong. This did not pass the stink test when it saw the light of day and the mayor flipped out as it was politically damaging to his congestion pricing plan.

Funny how this story has so little validity that it made it to page 2 of the Sunday NY Post and was picked up all over the world. What this showed is parking for the politically comnnected and morally corrupt and a communuty board and police precinct wrapped up in it caught like rats in a trap. The mayors congestion pricing would only benefit scofflaws like these as for only a few bucks they got less a less congested ride into the city and a free reservd parking spot at resident expense rightin front of where they work. A win win for them. If we got rid of all these commuters with placards and instituted resident parking the problem would be solved.

The entire religious community should be chastising this synagogue. I know that my church leaders don’t have any such luxury as making up their own parking placards and displaying them with impunity. I would just love to do a parking ticket issuance verse conviction rate done on the cars that display these phony placards.

The January 3, 2008 Mayors Executive Order reducing legitimate parking plaques is clear. But it looks like there will still be the political power base exceptions forget the people that do the work lets appease the Tammany Hall scallywags. The Inspector and Police commissioner should enforce the law (administrative code) in the spirit it was written, clean house.

Sorry, I cant stand corruption at any level; no matter what spin you put on it its unfair treatment of one group over another.

every church and funeral home in the city has a no parking anytime sign in front of it and usually enough space to fit 2 to 3 cars sometimes more and employees of such places and clergy people do not get titcketed regardless of religion and yea even mosques get a parking space.look around

An Update:
Due to the publicity this issue has received in the press, for now the Park East abusers are laying low. The problem is the following:

Now that the Park East people embarrased the mayor and the CB they are laying low, however the NYPD and Parking enforcement incompetence and preferential treatment continues when it comes to placard abuse. As a result of their ticket blitz on commercial vans and ignoring all placarded cars they have now turned the North side of east 68th street between Lexington ave and Third Avenues from a park east Synagogue abuse fest to an anything goes placarded card abuse fest including all sorts of bizarre placards including FOX 5 employees and private cars belonging to 19th precinct & FDNY employees.

The press placard clearly states that the person has to be engaged in covering a news story at the location of the news story and the police contract provides parking near a precinct when possible clearly marked with agency appropriate signs. (Big red signs, ageny specific) (FD max 6 per company)

The signs on east 68th street clearly indicate NO PARKING 7 AM - 7 PM; seems clear to me. The signs do not say placard abuse heaven or screw the local residents zone.

So what do we have here; Is is just a bunch of morons empowered with enforcement screwing up because they are dumb, or is it a brilliant plan to continue the abuse?

Yeah you are wrong. Plenty of church leaders either have DOT permits OR make their own Clergy sign and throw it on the dash in front of the church. I really have no idea what you are talking about. Try to get your facts straight before you post.

Checked again today and the Park East placard abusers have been replaced by other placard abusers with teh majority FOX 5 employees.

So much for mayor mikes crackdown. What a load of malarcky.

I saw mayor Mike in Staten Island on the 19th trying to push his baloney congestion pricing scam. He mentioned this story and how a religious organization was manufacturing their own placards and how he went ballistic about it.

The privileged parking within the blocks of east 65th to east 68th st. from Park Avenue to 1st Ave is out of hand. Many have expired or fake permits. Many are the police, firemen and teachers who seem to have "legal" permits but this is out of hand. There is no reason they should be able to commute to work and park for free on our neighborhood streets. Some park in front of fire hydrants. Many park on east 68th street, resulting in residents to double park to unload thereby tying up the crosstown bus and traffic. In additon to those unionized illegal parkers mentioned above, we have the clergy, court officers, DOT placards, diplomats and assorted others parking with privileged placards. It is time for this to STOP and NOW. I have teaken many photos but i don't know how to get them from my cell phone to this site. any suggestions?