Tix With Pix

Bronx Councilman Jimmy Vacca proposed a law that traffic agents should have photographic evidence to support each ticket they write. He believes this will reduce questionable tickets and limit motorist challenges in the court system. Parking meter tickets won’t require a “Kodak moment.” Wouldn’t it be nice to have a photo or video of a politician each time he or she made a bad judgment call or did something illegal that negatively impacted New Yorkers?

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IMPORTANT NOTE: This piece was written today about an older New York City news headline. NYCo site delays prevented its publication before now. In an effort to entertain and educate this blog’s devoted viewers, 100’s of older headlines will be posted in chronological order until this blog is discussing current events again. Though some stories may no longer be as relevant as they once were, they remain interesting news items worthy of mention and viewer comments.

[This is a copyrighted editorial, originally published on http://www.NEWYORKCITYonline.com/NYC-Online/blog.php. We invite you to post your comments and reply to others. This piece may be duplicated or printed with permission.]

Parking Permit Abuse Must Be Curbed

A recent yearlong study found that 9% of all vehicle permits in lower Manhattan were phony, 1 in 8 vehicles with permits were parked illegally and 42% of vehicles with “Official Business” permits were parked outside their designated spaces and in excess of the time permitted. On an average day between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., over 3,300 vehicles displayed law enforcement placards. 18% of available parking meters and 22% of loading-zone spaces were used by vehicles with permits. And the revolting numbers go on and on. New Yorkers don’t need more studies. Local business owners and ordinary citizen/drivers need action. I realize most of these reported violations were on government vehicles, but why not ticket, tow and impound these illegally parked cars? How about punishing the registered placard owners by withdrawing permit privileges for repeated offenses? Those who break the law with counterfeit placards should be severely punished and maybe even jailed. Those who we entrust to enforce the law should not be above it; or permitted to get away with it.