"No Parking" Fake Out Causes Trouble in DUMBO

It's one thing to park on no-parking street and get your car towed. It's another thing to park in on a parking-allowed street and get your car towed because someone put up a "No Parking" sign that suddenly got NYPD traffic officers' and towers' attention. Car owners - and parkers - on a stretch of Front Street between Washington and Main Streets in Brooklyn were treated to an unhappy surprise when a mysterious new "No Parking" sign appeared. Only the Department of Transportation never put the sign up and says that parking is allowed there. David Bourgeois told the Daily News he paid $205 to get his Mini Cooper out of the pound and was issued a $60 parking ticket: "It's just outrageous. I'm definitely going to fight this." The DOT says they would help with getting the ticket dismissed, and the NYPD said they were "looking into waiving" the tow fee.

But no one knows who put the sign up. Our guess: Someone tired of cars clogging up the street. Or someone who never got a space there and wanted to exact revenge.

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By Jen Chung in News on September 1, 2006 12:05 PM

Comments [rss]

Toby

Well the DOT sells custom made signs and the mounting brackets for them and warn you not to put them up on the street. However, it would be stupid to go that route, as it generates a paper trail.

interlard

So if I put a sign up saying it's illegal to be a dumb, people-hating cop who likes to harass people (prosecuting them for calling you names, harassing them for legally taking pictures on the subway, deliberately knocking them off their bike and breaking their collar bone, that kinda thing), they'll just start to arrest THEMSELVES?

Why did no-one think of this sooner?