Testimonials

Resident - Upper East Side, Manhattan

"This problem is citywide and pushes residents out of their own neighborhoods and also effects local businesses. Rather than encourage commuters to use public transportation, it encourages them to do the opposite and use their private vehicles as they are being provided with “more convenient” free reserved street parking right in front of their places of employment. Restricted parking areas deprive neighborhood residents of the little curbside parking available to them. The lack of enforcement of placard regulations degrades this neighborhood's quality of life.

I and my neighbors have been plagued by this problem for over 20 years. I've written letters for nearly as long: to the precinct, borough command, the police commissioner, the Mayor, two Council Members, the news, just about everyone but the president. I wasted that time seeking enforcement but realized due to the intentional lack of enforcement, the solution should be to get the signage changed. My feeling is that abused restricted parking areas should be returned to the community as curbside parking since the restricted area never served it's intended purpose.

Through persistence and countless e-mails with photos of placard parking abuse, I finally got my current Council Member to commit to a walking tour of the area in the summer of 2006. When my Council Member saw the degree of the chaos on the street (the local TV network abuses two blocks and goes so far as to use steel gates to hoard parking, MD's and Dentists mint fraudulent permits and abuse their MD plates to park all day--and they getaway with it anywhere they please) he wrote to the Manhattan Borough Commissioner of the DOT requesting a “global-scale” discussion about parking on the East side. He also referred to specific streets in this area from our tour that he hoped would get signage changes so that the residents had the same fair shot to park as the permit abusers.

The lack of NYPD cooperation at the highest levels, and the Transportation Alternatives study, I believe, were the driving force behind my Council Member authoring legislation to get placard issuance in check. He also wrote letters of support for me, backing my request for signage changes as part of the solution.

After repeated requests by my Council Member, the DOT finished their field inspections, including land use and parking regulations in the area in question, they concluded and I quote:

'We find the request to remove the weekday parking restrictions to provide parking for residents to be feasible.'

And still nothing. No changes, no enforcement, nothing, however the DOT referred the matter to the local community board for review.

This in a city with a Mayor who didn't want to give up Sunday metered parking, and refused to lift alternate side parking rules in a blizzard. He claims to be big on quality of life issues when, in actuality, he uses parking tickets as a pseudo tax.

I heard that the cops refuse to talk about parking until they get a better salary and that the mayor is in delicate contract negotiations with the NYPD commissioner. Cops say that they should be able to park wherever they want because their job is dangerous and they are protecting the city and work odd hours, but all they are really doing is commuting, as do many others in the community. This sets a horrible hypocritical example for the rest of us. They should be obeying the law, not trivializing the issue.

How can the DOT make any sensible parking regulations based on need and use in my area when, at every NO PARKING sign, a press employee parks their personal cars using press placards as a free parking permit and cops park their personal car at every NO STANDING EXCEPT TRUCKS LOADING AND UNLOADING? They park at every available parking meter, and frankly as you can see from the photos on this site, bus stops, crosswalks, on the sidewalk, in NO STANDING zones and blocking fire hydrants.

Essentially, all restricted parking areas do in my neighborhood is provide free reserved street parking at taxpayer inconvenience and expense for the politically connected and morally corrupt.

I'm a Veteran, I know what it is supposed to mean to stand up for the "John Wayne" like ideals of this country, but now I'm being forced out of my own neighborhood and disrespected as an individual and frankly I can't do the freelance work that requires me to use my car and I carry and use the same large, heavy video equipment FOX 5 does but I don't have free reserved parking in front of my door for my convenience.

I sure as hell do not have the ability to disregard the law, and I don't come to your neighborhoods and leave my car in your playgrounds and parks, and I don't prevent you from parking your own zip code.

Personally I think it is ridiculous. Cops should get a good salary, and they should be respected for their work, but they shouldn't be taking that salary increase out of my pocket. If they need better collective bargaining, that's a matter between the Mayor and the PBA. Stop taking the problem out on my neighborhood!"

Smeeglereegle, Resident, Lower Manhattan

I live in Lower Manhattan across from a police substation that has been in existence for about 12 years now. After the station opened, the parking abuse began immediately, but it got really bad when, after 9-11, the cops took over the sidewalk. We live 3 blocks south of the World Trade Center site, so it took a while for people to move back in. The cops kept the sidewalks in their possession for well over a year until we met with Alan Gerson's office and lodged our official complaint. During that time and after as well, I had arguments with cops who seemed to think that it was their God-given right to park wherever they wanted. One day I was having a conversation with two friends on the sidewalk and a cop started backing into us so that he could park in "our" space. He honked at us, and when I neglected to back down he yelled that he had official business and was entitled to be on the sidewalk. Not wanting to argue further, we moved.

At some point within the last three years my boyfriend parked his bike on a signpost on the street. He mentally noted that a car with a permit was parked straddling the curb and had left little leeway for movement. My boyfriend came back and found one of the wheels bent on his bike, clearly a result of the car pulling carelessly out of the space. He went to the officers at the station and complained. They said he could file a complaint, but without the license number, not much could be done. He did not file.

Every day we see flagrant violations in this neighborhood. Our streets are narrow and construction is everywhere, which makes our quality of life even worse. Cars with permits block the hydrants on our block everyday. Once, when we smelled gas in our building and called the fire department, their truck could barely turn our corner because a private car was hugging the crosswalk leaving little room for an emergency vehicle.

City Employee, Lower Manhattan

In the spring of 2006, I volunteered for TA to help document the frequency of vehicles parking on the sidewalk in the Chinatown area. This included photographing each car parked on the sidewalk. Another volunteer and I began by working on Elizabeth St, on the same block as the police precinct. Very quickly, a couple of officers saw us taking pictures, and confronted us. Turns out they don't like have their cars photographed.

We were asked to come into the precinct, and spent about 15 minutes explaining what we were doing and listening to various officers explain why we were not allowed to do what we were doing and that they could arrest us for it (they mentioned the Patriot Act, gang retaliation, officer safety, privacy, etc).

They twice asked if we were involved in CM, and whether there were any outstanding warrants for us. We gave them our licenses. We waited. I called the TA staff member who was coordinating this to come over, and he further explained to them what we were doing.

Long story short, I had to delete the photographs of officers' private vehicles, and was eventually allowed to leave. Not a pleasant morning.

Steve, Upper West Side Resident

I commute to school with my son and then to work by bicycle or foot each day, and most days we are confronted by the illegally parked cars. I once approached an NYPD officer who was parked in the bike lane. I tried to explain to one of the officers the dangers of forcing me and my son out of the bike lane into traffic. He belittled me and refused to address my concerns, and told me that and he had given permission to a commercial vehicle to park in the bike lane behind him so I had no right to complain about it.

When we use Central Park, we are always confronted by illegally parked cars on the southern portion of the bridle path. Many cars there have been left for weeks without being moved, with expired placards on the dash or no placard at all. It saddens me that this portion of Central Park has been turned into a place for city employees to store their unneeded (abandoned?) cars. We also find that one retired city employee is parking multiple personal vehicles on the bridle path for weeks or months at a time, even though the vehicles have Connecticut license plates. Why has the City issued permits ostensibly allowing him to do this?

Once I was ordered off the bridle path because I was with my four year old daughter, who was riding a bicycle so small that under New York City law she would be legally permitted to ride on the sidewalk. In contrast, current and former city employees are allowed to turn the bridle path into a parking lot for their personal use. Due to all the motor vehicle traffic, that area is deeply pitted and cratered, in far worse condition than the rest of the bridle path. No one seems to care.

In the summer, sometimes my son and I want to play basketball and we find all the courts near us are full, so we head to the 96th Street Recreation Center. There we find that several of the courts are always blocked by Parks & Recreation employees, who seem to have turned several of the courts into a parking lot for their own use.

Some of my posts on this site are admittedly sarcastic and embittered, but it's hard to be polite when public employees abuse the public trust. I sincerely believe that many, probably most, civil servants take their stewardship of public resources seriously. But the number who flagrantly abuse their position it far too great to ignore. Particularly troubling to me are the executive-level employees and former employees who apparently have given themselves the right to turn the city's parks, crosswalks, and bus stops into their own personal parking lots. However important and difficult their jobs may be, they must set a positive example, or abuses by those they supervise are unavoidable. Hopefully this site will make a difference and convince public employees, and especially their supervisors, to "do the right thing."

Dinner Date Parker, SoHo, Manhattan

"A few years ago I went out with a Manhattan physician. He had a permit even though as a surgeon he had no medical emergencies. He double parked/illegally parked all over town when we went out for dinner and drinks. It was very convenient for us, and totally an abuse of the permit!"

Anonymous, Manhattan

I love the police. I really do. You guys do a great job, and if they want to give you a raise, or free parking passes in city lots, or exemption from city income taxes, I'm all for it.

But when anyone - police or civilian - parks in crosswalks, intersections, or at hydrants, that endangers me, my family, and my neighbors. When I see mothers navigating their strollers into traffic because the crosswalk is completely barricaded, while I still think NYPD is amazing, I don't feel so sympathetic to the jerk who parked there.

Cops are great. Cops keep us safe. No argument. I've been to the precinct community council meetings and told many of you that in person. I really think the NYPD is the best police department in the world, so don't try to make this about cops vs. cop-haters.

If I say cops shouldn't be allowed to drive drunk, does that mean I don't appreciate the job you do? This is about respecting your neighbors. I wouldn't do something selfish to endanger your kids, so please don't do something selfish to endanger mine. That's all I'm saying.

I've never complained about someone having the wrong kind of permit for that spot, for blocking the court or jail driveway, etc. That's too nit-picky for me. My *ONLY* concern is the permit violations that endanger public safety. Keep the crosswalks and hydrants clear and you'll never see another post from me.

Officers, please keep up the fantastic work. You are deeply appreciated by this city. But please think about where you park, and if you see one of your buddies parking in the crosswalk or at a hydrant, please ask him/her not to.