Council Passes Ban on Violation Stickers

City politicians push through changes to parking regulations, Bloomberg likely to veto

By Andrew Rice

Parking, like finding a well-priced apartment, can be a frustrating endeavor in New York City. Last week, however, City Council passed a trio of bills, dubbed the Fair Parking Legislative Package, that could make life for car owners a little bit easier. The legislation is aimed at making parking enforcement fairer and curbing excessive ticketing practices.

The first bill addresses the problem of vehicle owners being slapped with a parking ticket while in the process of purchasing a pass from a muni-meter. Council Speaker Christine Quinn, along with the bill's lead sponsor, Council Member James Gennaro, put forth the legislation after receiving complaints from many New Yorkers; it requires traffic enforcement agents to cancel a ticket on the spot if they are presented with a muni-meter receipt that shows a time no later than five minutes after the citation was issued.

Currently, if an agent is presented with a receipt they have no option to cancel the ticket instantly. Under the new bill, the city would also issue an annual record of cancelled tickets to the City Council for review. The procedure, however, would require a programming change to all muni-meter machines at an estimated cost of $250,000.

Speaker Quinn argued that parking tickets and summonses are meant to enforce the law and are not meant to be a stream of income for city government. It has been reported that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is likely to veto this first bill, while the City Council plans to override his veto.

Council Member James Sanders Jr. proposed a second piece of legislation that would prohibit the city from issuing late fees to motorists who dispute their parking tickets. Late fees currently accumulate 30 days after a ticket is issued instead of 30 days after the determination of the case. Under the new bill, there would be no fees until at least 30 days after a finding of guilt or, in the case of appeal, 30 days following the notice of a determination of the appeal.

The final bill that is part of the package aims to eliminate the use of stickers placed on cars that have purportedly violated alternate side parking rules. Roughly 400 stickers are issued on alternate side parking days, mainly religious holidays like Passover or Ash Wednesday, by the Department of Sanitation. Council Member David Greenfield, the lead sponsor of the bill, believes that the stickers are punitive measures meant to embarrass motorists who are seen as being in the wrong. According to Greenfield, many drivers successfully fight these tickets and the stickers are punishment for an offense for which they've not yet been convicted.

Quinn believes that this legislation will also face opposition from the Bloomberg administration. "As he's hinted last year, Mayor Bloomberg will likely veto the bills put forth by Council Members Gennaro and Greenfield. I don't know why he would want to, but we believe we have enough votes in the City Council to overturn his vetoes and push these through."