Might as well rename east 68th Street between Second and Third Avenue as the FOX 5 parking lot and damn the rules zone.

Again a placard expired for over two months and even if the placard was valid this is in violation of placard use rules.

I ask community board 8 to act in a recent request to return this street to normal alternate side parking. All the NO PARKING sign is doing is preventing honest law abiding local residents from parking in their own neigborhood and prviding a haven for scofflaws,

All abused restricted parking areas must be returned to the community as normal curbside parking areas.

MD abusing his MD privilege by parking all day right uside his office. He is not on an emergency medical call, he is commuting,

I wonder how many residents could afford such a car if thet got free reserved street parking right in front of their apartments rather than a $600.00 a month parking lot.

In a city with a Mayor with a community minded brain and not a corporate mentality, the residents park in the steets and the commuters and outsiders patronize the parking lots.

Hollywood Mike Bloomberg is above it all, having tea and crumpets with Robert Denero while a press conference regarding parking abuse is going on, right on the steps of city hall.

This is the mayor who did not want to lift metered parking on Sundays and recently did not suspend parking rules in a blizzard,

Here is a prime example of the lack of enforcement regarding placarded cars. The placard doesn't even have to be valid.

The Parks & Recreation Department has a program I call "Central Perks" in which they give out citywide passes to retired administrators allowing them to park their private vehicles in the middle of New Yorkers' precious parkland (http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/648). Here, we see that the program extends to employees of non-public entities (in this case, Historic housing Trust, or HHT) that provide services under contract to the City. This person's citywide permit expired 2 months ago.

In fairness to her, the office of the HHT is located in the Arsenal, right next to where the car is parked, the placard holder is still employed as HHT Exec director, she apparently just didn't get around to getting a new permit.

But if an ordinary civilian forgets to feed the meter, they get ticketed in an instant, and there's no way to talk your way out of it. Not so if you work for the city or a city contractor. Then you get a free pass like this one that many abuse to park anywhere in the city they please for free--in the park, blocking the hydrant, in the crosswalks, in the bus stops, on the sidewalk, etc.

DP&R seems to think that there is no cost to giving out these placards, but the fact is each car they allow into the Park degrades it. In fact, if they give out enough of these "citywide" placards, they essentially have turned our parks into a network of free parking lots for bureaucrats. How many of these passes are out there, exactly? Has DP&R considered alternatives to these free passes, such as reimbursing the cost of contractor employees like this parking at a nearby private lot, or creating a permit parking area on 5th Avenue & 64th Street?

DP&R's disregard for the impact of all their permit printing on ordinary New Yorkers is what makes them uncivil servants.

Looked at some older pics and found one from November 16, 2006, showing illegal parking by a guy who as of today is illegally parked in the same spot for at least 15 days without moving:

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/map?plate=acg6061&state=NY

In this November 16 shot, the car appears to be in the same spot it is in now, but the odds & ends used strategically to hide portions of the permit are rearranged. Maybe he came by at Christmas and took the car for a spin around the bridle path, just to make sure the engine doesn't seize up. Then, before abandoning the car for another few months, he re-positioned the calling card and the note to once again obscure the expiration date on his permit. This guy is so clever, he'll never get caught!

This guy's permit expired in 2005. what's he doing on the bridle path in Central Park?

“The primary objective of the park is as
a rural resort where the people of all
classes, escaping from the glare, and
glitter, and turmoil of the city might
find relief for the mind, and physical
recreation.”

--EGBERT L. VIELE, Chief Engineer of
Central and Prospect Parks, 1861

My favorite pun--"Central Perk"--is so apt that the Central Park Conservancy has adopted it. As well they should. It so accurately captures all that the city has done to "rescue the park from decay and restore it to its original vision," as the mailer reads (see photo at the bottom).

In fact, here's what Olmstead had to say on the subject:

“Crowded thoroughfares have nothing in common with the park proper, but everything at variance with those agreeable sentiments which we should wish the park to inspire.”

I somehow doubt that back in 1858, Olmstead and Vaux envisioned this guy, with a permit more than a year post-expiration, parking in the middle of park. Not just once, but all the time. Here's the same vehicle, parked in the same spot, on November 16, 2006:

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/644

And he doesn't just park here, either. Here he is on a third occasion, like a regular shade tree mechanic, idling the engine and doing some maintenance right out on the bridle path on the weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y78Fqjd1g7U

The bottom line is that all the NYPD and other city employees who work near here abuse the public trust by parking here. If a civilian tries to collect evidence to bring the abuse to light, they get questioned, as I did on on one occasion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf7aelGQPDg

Want in on Central Perks? Sorry--its only open to civil servants. Cost to participants: $0. Cost to the rest of New York: Priceless.

The holographic seal is a nice touch, but this is obviously a bogus placard. It reads "Fire Department--City of New York" across the top, but is not issued by the Fire Department or any other City agency. Rather, it is issued by a union of EMT's and paramedics with offices in Long Island City and states that the placard holder is on "Official U.E.P. Business," not city business. In any event, it is long expired. The guy was parked during alt side and the street could not be cleaned. I have no general problem with unions, but this is ridiculous--a union is no different than a private business or individual when it comes to illegal parking--even if it is a union of civil servants.

Court Officer parked in a No-Parking Anytime zone

Another Park East Synagogue sinner.

It was Friday,

A scrap of paper is all you need.

Park East Synagogue, thou shalt park illegally,

It was Friday.

This guy got a permit good for parking in Central Park for one day, February 23, 2007, but is continuing to use it a week later on Park Drive East.