New Yorkers Having Tougher Time Beating Parking Tickets

In recent years, drivers are finding that they have an easier time getting their parking tickets reduced, but a more difficult time having them waved off altogether. This is because of a little publicized settlement program introduced in 2005 by the city's Department of Finance. People who challenge citations have the opportunity to settle their tickets with a clerk if they choose to opt out of overturning them before a judge. But a Department spokesperson explains, “Judges are responsible for determining whether or not a violation has occurred, which wasn’t the case before..They were dismissing tickets, they were offering large reductions." Some are concerned however that the one of the reasons that tickets in those cases are getting waved less frequently is because administrative law judges, per diem employees, feel vulnerable to pressure from their superiors all the same and that "the pressure is on" to collect revenue under the new system.