Make Up a Fake Parking Permit, Park Wherever You Want!

Courtesy Wiley Norvell

Last year the Bloomberg administration made a big deal about reducing the number of parking placards issued to city employees, slashing them by over 25,000. At the time, the cutback on permits, which allow cops, civil servants, and other lucky bureaucrats to park almost anywhere, was heralded by Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives as “a good first step. But the final analysis will be weeks and months from now, when we see how actively these plaques are enforced."

So last week the group decided to test enforcement themselves, creating a bogus parking placard with the name of a non-existent city agency, the "Citizen Protection Administration." Spokesman Wiley Norvell spent six hours parking a Mazda Miata at various illegal spots around Manhattan, he didn't get a single ticket! The first spot was a no-standing zone, which is off-limits even with a legitimate placard. Two NYPD traffic agents wrote out several tickets for cars across the street, then one inspected the Miata and called out to the other one, "It says Citizen Protection Administration."

According to the Post, the officer "then threw up his hands, shrugged his shoulders and walked on." A similar cluelessness was observed at other locations around the Upper East Side. In a statement, Norvell said, "If the NYPD can't distinguish official permits from bogus ones, and if they're unwilling to ticket placarded vehicles that are parked illegally regardless of what's in the dashboard, then this problem will continue to fester." Until then, to the laminator!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on July 27, 2009 3:28 PM

Comments [rss]

rhonda718

Wouldn't there actually need to be a Citizens Protection Adminstration for them to be counterfeiting government documents? If not, beware all of you Official Bikini Inspector cardholders!!

thefacts

Norvell and White are guilty of counterfeiting government documents with intent to defraud, a Class C Felony. Will they be prosecuted?

They also parked illegally, by their own admission - the kind of thing they condemn others for doing.

Rfive

I found a place that would replicate the hologram on our parking permits, for about $3K per 100. I decided to tell my employer that it would cost $6K, so he would opt out due to financial reasons.

Those permits were EASY to copy. If anyone's interested, let me know! I could use a little side work...

nicemarmot

I am pretty sure half the parking placards in this city are either fake or sketchily obtained. Why don't we just tow all of 'em and sort it out later?

Nyctini11

Maybe the traffic people are afraid to report in fear of ramifications from other officers. They could start w/the police man who lives in my building and LOVES to use his little card to park in the Bus stop zone, constantly. He abuses his power on a daily basis. Unless "Official Police Business" means getting to be a sneaky jerk.