If the target is phony placards, no problem.

TA is the biggest joke around. I saw one of your spokesmen on TV, and he was talking about the lack of parking in 1 Manhattan neighborhood. Forget all the crazy numbers, messurement problems, and lack of real world application (1 neighborhood does not the entire city make). The thing I had a problem with the most was, he kept saying how the lack of available parking causes polution and traffic from people driving around in circles. Ok, fine.
So, if a firefighter comes home after a long shift to that neighborhood (not likely, because with his low pay he couldn't afford it, but lets just pretend), and parks his car in a "No Standing" zone, isn't this great for everyone? He dosen't drive around causing traffic or polution, and leaves a legal spot for someone else when they come, again, reducing polution and traffic.
But no. I'm sure you guys have a problem with that too. I'm just saying there are bigger problems to worry about then the firemans car in the no standing zone. How about you work on pollution and traffic from other angles if that is your real agenda?

I just completed reading among other things this report
http://hsc.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20070306144631-49123.pdf

I believe that it ignores much evidence that terrorist groups
revert to softer targets while continuing to look for more
complicated strike opportunities against harder targets. If one
reviews the terrorist activity against Israel, Great Britain et.
al., one sees that the homemade bomb is the weapon of choice
whether it take the form of a suicide bomber, car bomb, pipe bomb
etc. These strikes have been in marketplaces, shopping malls,
schools, gathering areas for police and military etc. The first
strike against the world trade center was a car bomb which lacked
the energy to destroy the target - it was followed by a more
powerful transportable bomb(s) with the 911 strike.

I am aware of a gapping hole in the security scrutiny of just such
potential delivery systems for bombs against our schools, malls,
churches, synagogues, gathering areas for police or military. In
New York (possibly other large cities), illegal parking is
completely ignored if an auto/truck displays even a poor facsimile
of a city issued placard on the dash. This facsimile can even be
upside down with no printing visible whatsoever and the illegal
action will more than ignored, the patrol cars will avoid the area
so as to not even see the infractions. This means that a car bomb
is sure to be ignored and left to accomplish its mission, even
though there is probable cause to stop and investigate (and even
issue a summons and tow).

I have taken hundreds of photos which clearly show a huge number
of city/federal/medical/handicap/state employees who clog the
system with so many infractions daily, that a needle in a haystack
- e.g. a car bomb - would likely get lost until it caused serious
terror.

It also perhaps creates a catch 22, in that, those charged with
enforcement would likely have much clean up to do as it appears to
this citizen that the corruption has been institutionalized. It is
just such softness in security that perhaps has been exploited in
the past by terrorist organizations.

I do not intend to lessen the efforts to protect our subways - I
ride them daily to and from work.

It is just a concern that such an obvious security softness exists
due to the abuse of authority by those who illegally park by
invalid permit and the continued willful neglect to enforce the
laws on the books.

I have forwarded the content of this communication to Senator
Chuck Shumer via his website due to lack of a valid email for him
to put on the cc line.

One only has to review the volume of infractions randomly recorded
by civilians on www.uncivilservants.org to understand the softness
in security due to willful infractions by those charged with
protecting the public safety.

It isn't over - the unions are suing to keep their ill got gains.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06222008/news/regionalnews/cop_unions_placard_pitch_116673.htm

You almost go on to say that our lives are at stake because someone has a placard and they might be some al Qaeda operative in disguise who somehow obtained an NYPD placard and used it to park near a building that has some importance. Car bomb? Please. Most cars that are aimed to be used as a weapon are done so immediately with the driver inside or within a few minutes after he leaves. Also, why would he go to the trouble of getting or creating an NYPD placard when he is just going to explode the car anyway? Do you think that if he leaves the car and detonates it 15 minutes later he is going to care that a TEA wrote him a ticket for being in a No Standing zone? What are the chances that he gets ticketed AND towed in 10 minutes anyway? Also, another point you made about how one only has to review the volume of infractions recorded.... Most of the posts on here are total crap. The moderator works for TA so OBVIOUSLY they are going to stay on the website even if he agrees it's a ridiculous post. Many pictures are unclear, don't show the sign, don't show the plaque, don't show the rest of the block, etc. There are plenty of pictures of officers at the precinct with a plaque number that doesn't match the license plate or the precinct number isn't the one that he is in front of. Last I checked it wasn't illegal to use your plaque in front of a police station regardless of what precinct number it says. I will agree that you have a good deal of evidence with hydrants and bus stops. That can work to your advantage. But how do you know any of those cops were there all day or put it there for 10 minutes to run into the store and then moved it? Also, plenty of times I have heard "the car wasn't ticketed." Did you wait for a traffic agent to drive by? I agree that it wouldn't be ticketed anyway but you didn't even wait to see if they would drive by. You are just going by an assumption that they wouldn't be. That is just absurd. What needs to be done is enforcement of stupid, phony looking placards. I know USPS guys are not issued placards but if you are parked in front of a post office with something that identifies the vehicle as one that belongs to a postal worker, he is given what is called DISCRETION. It's not that a TEA doesn't know that the DOT doesn't give out that type of placard. EMT's print placards also and use them next to hospitals and are given DISCRETION. The UFA gives members placards and next to the firehouse they, too, are given DISCRETION. Do I need to go on? Court Officers are given discretion also even though their placards are union issued. Just wait until there are NYC PBA placards, NYC-DEA placards, NYC LBA placards and NYPD CEA placards. JUST like the ones that the SBA has created. They will simply multiply and multiply until they are finally accepted and not ticketed, and that is not to say they would be ticketed in the first place. I think I'm done ranting now. Also what is wrong with handicap/disabled persons using a placard if it is LEGITIMATELY issued, has the plate of the car they are using, and they aren't causing a safety issue? I saw a woman the other day park next to the tennis courts on 78th street and the FDR drive in a 328i BMW, toss her handicap placard on the dash and took her racquet out of the trunk. Now, of course I was appalled but who am I to say that the person whose placard it was lives on the block and she was going to play and then go to his house to give him the keys to the vehicle? Without all the information on EACH violation, most of these "violations" are just baseless assumptions. Oh and if I hear the words "illegal" or "invalid" one more time on this website misused I am going to freak out.

Hiyall, thats a very nice story, but it has NO basis in real life. A car bomb could just as easily be parked in a car without a permit, and at most, all it's gonna get is a ticket. Maybe up to three. But chances of it getting towed are slim to none. Not to mention that in all likely hood, a car bomb would not sit there for long enough for any of that to matter.
Fake permits though are a problem (I'll assume a real one would not be a car bomb, unless it was a stolen permit). They should be taken seriously, and I'm glad when a non-authorized user gets cought for a fake permit. (Not an authorized user who just wasn't issued one and resorted to a photocopy, like the Immet St. Guillen detective in Brooklyn... Which now jeopardizes an entire murder case...)

#2 Poor firefighter??? Lifelong medical coverage for you and your family

Firefighter Salary:
BASE
FRINGE*
TOTAL

STARTING SALARY
$36,400
$4,090
$40,490

AFTER 1 YEAR
$38,194
$6,153
$44,347

AFTER 2 YEARS
$41,600
$6,702
$48,302

AFTER 3 YEARS
$45,760
$7,372
$53,132

AFTER 4 YEARS
$50,440
$8,126
$58,566

AFTER 5 YEARS
$68,475
$18,043
$86,518

Promotion Opportunities:

Lieutenant
$84,421
$35,250
$119,671

Captain
$96,903
$43,270
$140,173

Battalion Chief
$126,178
$19,467
$145,645

I bet many new yorkers would like to be this poor

The truth, I never used the word poor. I said the firefighter could not afford to live on the Upper West Side, the neighborhood mentioned in the report, on his low civil service salary. As you stated, the top pay for a firefighter is $68,475 (after 5 years). Explain to me how someone can buy a house in NYC on that salary? Even crappy houses in the outer boro's start at $500,000. A mortgage company would not qualify someone making $68k a year for a half million dollar mortgage. However, to make matters worse, NYC Firemen have residency requirments. They must live in NYC or the adjoining 5 counties. So, in theory they can jump in a car and drive two hours out to Montauk (for cheap houses), but they are not allowed to jump on the PATH train and live 10 minues across the river in NJ (which still has plenty of affordable housing too). The system is messed up. The city will never pay it's firemen and cops fairly because they know they can't strike. It's just the way it is.

I hope it is just a story. The fact is that the willful neglect on the part of the NYPD to enforce the law (including towage), would provide a potential threat access to areas that would not be normally accessable. These areas are typically much closer than public parking areas.