BY ERIN EINHORN and FRANK LOMBARDI
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Mayor Bloomberg ended a sweet parking perk for a handful of City Council members after the Daily News exposed the practice Wednesday.

Bloomberg ordered the Department of Transportation to tear down special signs reserving parking for four Council members in front of their district offices - signs he called "inappropriate."

"We will just remove those signs from those four spaces," the mayor said.

The News revealed Wednesday that the Council members had a deal most New Yorkers would covet: reserved parking spots set aside for them and their staffers from 7 a.m to 7p.m. weekdays.

Two of the reserved areas were set aside before Council members Helen Foster (D-Bronx) and David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) took office in 2002. But Council members Al Vann (D-Brooklyn) and Helen Sears (D-Queens) requested their spaces during Bloomberg's tenure.

Bloomberg has made a point of slashing parking privileges for city employees, including chopping the number of parking placards given to city workers and elected officials. About 26,000 parking placards have been eliminated this year, out of 144,000 previously issued, according to mayoral spokesman Jason Post.

He said an additional 12,600 placards, largely belonging to teachers and education officials, will be nixed when they come up for renewal in September.

[http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/08/13/2008-08-13_mayor_to_pols_find_your_own_parking.html]