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Screenshot on NY Times' map showing blocks and the number of tickets on them
Drivers, it's the last Friday in November—do you know where your car is? The day after Thanksgiving was the most-ticketed day of the last fiscal year, according to an extensive analysis of parking tickets conducted by the Times. The study concluded that parking tickets issued citywide have surged 42 percent since Mayor Bloomberg took office. During the last fiscal year, the city raked in $624 million in parking fines, which is more than the city spends to run the entire Department of Transportation. Officials, maintaining a straight face, insist the parking enforcement is not driven by revenue goals.
According to the study, which comes with a sweet interactive online map, the most-ticketed block in NYC is 14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. 10 percent of the tickets for alternate-side parking violations were issued within two minutes of the time that the rule went into effect. And 28,000 of those—2 percent of the total—were issued exactly on the hour. Gus Markatos, manager at the Donut Pub on West 14th Street, tells the Times, "I walked out at 11 o’clock on the dot one night, and my car was already being ticketed and towed. There’s no courtesy anymore."
The NYPD insists the handheld computers issued to traffic cops are synced with the atomic time clock, but a Fox News report found that some of the devices run more than two minutes fast. Last May, 64-year-old Leo Magnotta died from a heart attack while arguing with traffic cops in the Bronx, sparking protests from business owners about overzealous ticketing. And southwest Brooklyn Councilman Vincent Gentile complains that, "We have traffic agents who get bused in by van each and every day to these communities. They’re deployed like an army regiment."
But it's tough out there for the enforcers, too; former union rep Robert Cassar tells the Times, "Every day, you go out there naked—without a gun—in the back of your mind is, ‘Is this my day?'"
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"Every day, you go out there naked—without a gun—in the back of your mind is, ‘Is this my day?'"
God willing.
The outrage should also extend to those freelance tow companies that trawl along streets looking for ticketed cars and then promptly tow them away. There's no stopping them because the get their fee even if the car was wrongfully towed. Don't hurt the agents, hurt the tow drivers.
You know what.... the rules are posted and everyone has to deal with it. If you can't keep track of your car then maybe you should not have one. I get about one ticket a year because I forget and I pay it right away. The rest of the time I deal with alternate side, meters, and whatever else I have to. If this ticketing was not done then the streets would be a nightmare.
Now if only they could get the moving violations ticketed more I would be happy. Lots of shitty drivers out there. Why not use the money to close the budget gap.
Cool! Give 'em hell Bloomie! Tax their SUVs and revoke licenses for blocking the box. Execute hit and run drivers. Drunk drivers should have their eyes plucked out. Make it happen Blooms! We support you!
I agree wooden to an extent. Sometimes traffic laws are so ridiculous in their complexity that people will inevitably fall into the trap and get ticketed regardless of how careful they are.
One more reason not to have a car in this city.
I would rather my child grow up to sling rock than be a meter maid. At least a pusher offers a valuable service. These meter maids fuck people over for a living.
This is revenue generation at its lowest. The speed cameras are coming soon.
I've also heard the cops are busting those faggy scooter riders, too.
I've never heard them do that before but I guess the city will squeeze every penny out of ya.
now you all stay straight.
Don't be surprised when bicyclists start getting banged out for not using hand signals or riding counter-flow.
Mikey "you'll never get rid of me" Bloomberg is going to milk us all dry.
Almost 10 million tickets in 1 year?
It is out of hand, but what city could turn their back on that kind of revenue? It is a sneaky form of taxation.
When are they going to start ticketing (or confiscating/padlocking) bikes for parking their private property on the sidewalks for hours,days, weeks on end?
My closet is crowded. Maybe I'll put my extra belongings in a foot locker, chain it to a street sign next to the bikes, and see if I get away with free rent like the cyclists do.
Think of how much more we could generate if other traffic cops would ticket the traffic cops. They are the worst violators of double parking, fire lane parking, no standing, no parking, etc - and half the time - ok 80% of the time - they are in the donut shop, gabbing with shoppers, etc.
It's a tax on people who can't follow directions. I'm fine with that.
it's also a tax on the blind and illiterate. people who can't see or read signs.
the people I know, oK relatives, who got a ticket today were too lazy to get up to move their car. they got ticketed, like clockwork, every Fri after thanksgiving. now they just visit without driving.
The rules are posted.
The city is in financial dire straits.
Why shouldn't rule-breakers be the first to ante up?
good! ticket the hell out of every asshole driving in the city. I almost got run over twice today...
"faggy scooter riders?"
I prefer welfare recipients to traffic cops - at least those other parasites aren't actively collecting extra money for the government.
Having a car in Manhattan is crazy but obviously enough people think it's worth it. Carry on...
I wish they'd send a truckload of meter maids up to Inwood to ticket all the assholes who double-park in the bike lanes.
I wish they'd ticket all the cyclists who plow through red lights and all the douches who jaywalk across fast moving traffic.
And why is it that it's always the cyclists who bitch and moan the most? It's like another streetsblog circlejerk here these days.
"It is a sneaky form of taxation."
No it isn't. A ticket is the alternative to arrest. It is the State Lotteries and scratch off cards that are sneaky form of taxation, mainly on the poor.
A FISCAL HERO OF THE STREETS
With city coffers fast depleting,
We need an expert in repleting,
A hero to summon up a stash,
A sorely needed stack of cash.
And just in time, we've found the fellow,
So let's all give a cheery hello!
In just one shift, Andre Strothers
Exceeded Brownie sisters and brothers
In bringing in a record sum,
A bonus for the city, a plum:
Eleven thousand lovely bucks,
All off the backs of cars and trucks,
Achieved by writing over two hundred
Tickets for drivers who have blundered.
For Strothers' job, his occupation,
Is adding lucrative decoration
To any vehicle that's marked
For punishment, it being parked
Illegally--a no-no for owners
Who unwittingly become donors
To New York's cash-strapped treasury,
A profitable path (most deem unsavory).
And what makes Strothers king of the mound?
He wields the fastest pen around.
So Traffic Agent Supreme, which you are,
I salute you. Just stay away from my car.
#16 I prefer traffic agents. At least they're doing SOMETHING for the city.
The city should charge for on-street parking cost at the rate that the city pays for it, not $0.50 an hour.
I don't have a problem with the City enforcing laws. However, when the DOTs ticket your car when the time stated on the sign has not met, then they are being overzealous. Of course this is a revenue based system, so is moving violations. Did you ever think why the City Department of Finance deals with tickets and not some legal department, its because its all about revenue.
One thing I wish Bloomberg would go after are cabs - who always speed up when the light turns red - and also the rickshaw cabs. The rickshaw cabs should be taken off the City streets. They don't follow the rules of the road and most time slow down the flow of traffic.