Relentless Parking Ticket Blitz Infuriating Astoria

Very difficult to find parking space in Astoria.

Last time I was there in a car was before 1997.

If you live in or have to be in Astoria,

Have a metrocard. Park in another area, then

take the subway train back to Astoria.

one thing i have noticed in trying to park in astoria is the total inefficiency of street parking. poor hydrant placement, excess of "do not block" private parking zones, but above all, people leaving no room for others to park.

flushing's bad, but it doesn't have much room for improvement.

Unforch, Hotcup is right. Many selfish drivers leave too much room in front and behind them, wha ocudl otherwise be space for another car.

It's like a male straphanger sitting with his legs wide open, preventing others from taking the empty spaces next to him.

I hate all the goddamn private driveways!

I lived in Astoria for almost ten years, and my opinion is that Astoria drivers / parkers absolutely win the Douchebag Award. Once while walking to the subway, I saw a car drive up onto a sidewalk full of pedestrians, proceed down the sidewalk at 60 miles an hour, suddenly "park" right there, buy a pastry and have a conversation, then curse in greek and spit at the pedestrians he almost ran over. Thats just one story; I have more !

I highly doubt that a traffic cop would have any problem making quota; Trust me, they have plenty of violations to choose from.

bloomberg and the zionist jews in the NYC finance department do not care about greek orthodoox week or arab funerals in astoria.

"if the city is hurting for money so badly"

do you REALLY think the city's public politicians, accountants, attorneys, judges, and intertwined corporate entities and developers are hurting for money? the reality is what you see with your own eyes, and all I see is these crooks getting richer at the expense of the destruction of middle and lower classes.

During bloomberg's terms, I've witnessed the frequency of parking and traffic tickets given out gone up at least several-fold, along with the fees and fines involved with them. Heck, I've even seen additional fees randomly named as "surcharge fees" or "suspension termination fees" produced out of the blue.

The people in Astoria are not the only ones who have received tickets while idling or in the middle of the road. I've once received a ticket while I was lost, idling on the side of the street, looking DOWN AT MY GPS punching in a new address, and when I looked up a cop was writing me a ticket. Just a couple of days ago, I was by soho and was slightly but uninentionally going over the intersection zone because a taxi cut in front of me while I was driving over the intersection, and two black cops (or rather, slaves to zionist bloomberg's dictatorship.. or rather, puppets in bloomberg's "unemployment reduction" scheme) jumped in front of my car and scanned my registration for anothher $115 ticket. I asked them, who the F is giving you orders like this? they simultaneously replied "BLOOMBERG"

So thank the idiotic residents of the city who voted for bloomberg for a third time. I can at least say I didn't; in fact, I volunteered for thompson's campaign because although imperfect, ANYTHING would have been better than the crooked, zionist, manipulating a-hole we have as mayor AGAIN.

I've noticed in east williamsburg, many of the signs are PAINTED over or vandalized so they people who live there cant get tickets. I would love to see a map that shows frequency of tickets by area. I'm sure the poor areas get it worse than the connected areas.

any ambitious editor journalist should run with that idea?

by "connected" areas I think you mean heavily jewish-populated areas (williamsburg being one of them). that's the only "connection" you can have in new york city that actually counts as anything. this city desperately needs radical changes that will not happen

Wait, you mean because I'm Jewish I'm exempt from parking tickets? Should I just tear them up now or is there a special office I have to go to? Would I need a note from my Rabbi?

I bet they're glad they voted for Bloomberg.

"If the city is hurting for money so badly and wants to take it out on drivers, then it should charge higher registration fees for larger vehicles (eg. SUVs)."

The city does not, and can not, charge any registration fees for any vehicles.

just for informational purposes nyc registration is 10 dollars more than the rest of the state.

Yep. But the city didn't put that in place, the state did.

Wasn't that increase put in place to stop the proposed service cuts by the MTA? Or am I confusing that with the taxi surcharge?

Why can't it?

That's Albany's domain. They could probably fight for some scheme that would achieve the same effect, but probably not worth the fight. Remember the congestion charge debacle.

If the city is hurting for money so badly and wants to take it out on drivers, then it should charge higher registration fees for larger vehicles (eg. SUVs). Aside from their other obvious downsides, they take up almost 1 1/2 times as much space as a sedan when parking, and are super dangerous to other drivers when parked at a corner. This city could make a killing given how many SUVs are driving around. Seriously, who needs one in NYC?

I own an XTerra, which is 14" shorter than my previous car, a Maxima. How is that taking up more room? And when I have to haul shit from Home Depot or I'm heading upstate in the middle of winter, I'm certainly not doing it in a Mini. So, nice try, but do some research before you quote "facts", like them being "super dangerous" to other drivers when... parked? I need an SUV and I'm sorry that you're so judgmental about other people's situations.

I also live in Astoria. I agree, as far as I can tell there are more ticket agents here than in other places in the city. They literally drop a van full off and each TEA takes a street. But, all the tickets either my girlfriend or I have gotten have been justified. In fact, I give the TEAs credit for being lenient about parking too close to hydrants. Street parking sucks, and I appreciate that break they give us. If you don't want a ticket, don't do something illegal.

As for over zealous ticket agents: karma.

Maybe the residents of Astoria should spend more time learning how to park legally and less time whining to their elected officials when traffic agents are doing the job they are paid to do.

Way to be a dbag.

Real mature, troll. Or did you have something to add to the discussion?

yeah, the 'people' are supposed to have a say in the laws of their city. If you want live some place where people have no say over their lives you might be a dbag. just saying.

try living 15, 20 or even 30 blocks from a train and you'll see a lot of people in the city rely on cars to get around. ticketing them to make a fast buck. nyc makes nearly a billion dollars from tickets now. no city in the world comes close to this. this is not good government.

The vast majority of New Yorkers do not have access to cars and rely on public transportation to get around. Why should a small minority gum up traffic for the rest of us who rely on the bus to get to that train that is, as you say, often 15, 20 or even 30 blocks away? My bus ride to the subway would take half the time it does if people in private vehicles didn't double park or park in bus stops "just for a minute". You're defending selfish behavior that our elected officials have outlawed. I'll agree with you that relying on parking tickets as a source of income for the city is shameful, but punishing those who inconvenience the rest of us counts as good government in my book.

"punishing those who inconvenience the rest of us counts as good government in my book."

Good until this power is abused, as it is, which is the point of the article. Surely someone as well educated as yourself could see the argument from both sides.

If you want to focus on whether the power is being abused, that's a separate issue. Do rogue TEAs exist? Sure. But are most tickets that get issued justified? I would have to say so. Once you get familiar with the rules, you start to notice violations on pretty much every block. The ticket agents don't have to go far out of their way to find perfectly legitimate tickets to issue. When an agent sees a violation, the agent is supposed to write a ticket. You don't want the agents to pick and choose which ones to write, as that way lies corruption, inequality and much more, not less, opportunity for abuse. And, to go back to the headline, is this a "ticket blitz"? I don't know the specific stats for Astoria recently, but typically, every time someone writes a story about a ticket blitz in a particularly neighborhood, the city comes back with the actual numbers of tickets getting written, and it's about the same as always. It's just a few whiners and a politician who needs to keep his name in the papers that generate those accusations.

rogue TEAs?! hahaha. I find that phrase so funny for some reason.

Chris I dont know how old you are but I can guarantee you dont have the experience of the a working class NYer. these are the NYers who have eldery parents, kids, and lives in 2 fare zone in the outer boros. what you so casually call a small minority of selfish people are the back bone of the city or at least the people who kept it functioning when everyone left for the suburbs. these people cant survive using a bike and metrocard. they need a car. they arent bad people. one day if you stay in the city. you will become like them and you will understand.

Well, since you bring it up, I'm a native New Yorker who has spent most of my 41 years living in Manhattan. And for three of those years, I worked as a parking judge, so yes, I do know what I'm talking about. My family never owned a car. And the numbers are still against you. Most New Yorkers, including the working class families living in the outer boroughs, don't have access to cars. Most New Yorkers, including those with small children and elderly parents, somehow survive without a car and rely on their Metrocards or, in a pinch, taxis or livery cars. Keeping a car in the city is a choice, and those who choose to keep a car and act like jerks by blocking traffic are being bad people. Being part of the working class backbone that keeps the city functioning does not entitle you to act selfishly any more than being rich or powerful. The car that is blocking traffic "just for a few minutes while I was getting my mother's prescription" (a surprisingly common defense) blocks traffic just as much as a limo waiting for a bond trader. It's still selfish behavior, no matter how you slice it.

Ahhh, and there-in lies your bias. like most cops who have been on the job, you have seen the worst of what the environment has to offer and pre-judge everyone as just another part of "the worst". (sorry for not being more eloquant about it but i'm in a hurry. every single parking ticket i've gotten has been an alternate side because (usually)i get home from working a 14 hour day, forget that i'm parked on the thursday side, and it's wednesday night, get my 5 hours of sleep and run for the bus, about halfway to manhattan, i realize, "fuck" i didn't move my frigging car. okay, if the snaitation department cleaned the street every week, i would understand, but i see them, once every 3 months clean the street and it's ALWAYS (ALWAYS) on saturday morning, NEVER on the alternate sides days. so you and your parking judge high horse can take your "no the system isn't broken" and "no, this isn't a cash grab from the working class" and shove it deep down, wherever you stash all that guilt, angst, and your illusion of moral superiority you have from your term being paid to screw the citizens of new york.

I think that if there was any disciplinary action at all for TEAs who overstepped their bounds, there'd be a lot less of the extreme behavior like this that honestly doesn't belong in civilized society. There might even eventually be some mutual respect (try not to laugh).

Just because (arbitrary example number) 99% of tickets are legitimate shouldn't mean the TEAs should be allowed to do whatever they want to secure the other 1%. There is a way to prevent scofflaw behavior while still not infuriating the community and using ridiculous and bullying tactics that may themselves be against the law. It's common knowledge that this is not done because of the city budget's sake, which is a bad precedent. How else can you explain not setting any parameters around TEA behavior-- even endorsing it?

People aren't criminals or gluttonous buffoons just because they dare to own a car. Really.

America, selfish? WHAT?!

I applaud you for labeling this selfish, but we seem to be entitled to selfishness around here.

According to the 2000 Census, percentage of households owning at least one car:

Bronx: 40%

Brooklyn: 46%

Manhattan: 23%

Queens: 66%

Staten Island: 82%

All NYC: 46%

http://www.livablestreets.com/streetswiki/new-york-city-vehicle-ownership

Astoria? bush league.

for the major leagues try to park in Flushing.

So wait; I can be opposed to both, right? Shady cop tactics (any cop that won't show their badge should be sacked, the end) & drivers complaining about how there are consequences for breaking the law?

I would support having traffic agents actually ticketing traffic violations. Aside from double parking and parking in front of hydrants/driveways/etc, who gives a shit?

How do you propose a "traffic" enforcement officer who's on foot catch up with a motor vehicle to issue its driver a summons? Go back to the midwest.

Have you ever heard of "writing down the license plate number"? Wow, what a concept. Why don't you go back to kindergarten?

Being a traffic agent in Astoria is like being a mosquito in a nudist colony.

How about allowing cars to park in front of old hydrants which are obviously looong out of service. Actually how about allowing people to park in front of a hydrant if there's no nearby fire. Actually how about replacing hydrants with an in-ground technology that allows firetrucks to plug in outside of the parking perimeter. Actually how about forcing every car in NYC to carry 400 gallons of water and an extendable hose on top... a boy can dream.

We could fill the walls of every building with water, so if there's a fire, it can put itself out!

I've heard of this wonderful substance called asbestos that we could try.

the laws of the land are SUPPOSED to be a reflection of THE WILL of the people. I know of NO ONE who believes in alternate side parking. when I used to live in the hellhole nabe of gpt they did it 4 days a week. the city wouldn't have anything to do with the filthy two fare zone area, but by 8am if you didnt move your car they'd be there to ticket you.

asbestos, oh yeah, I saw this ad for it.

http://www.mesohell.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/wtc-asbestos-ad2.jpg

Oh I have lots of ideas. I might run for mayor.

The city recently repaved just about every street in Astoria....now they have to pay for it.

All the recent repaving is a furious rush to spend stimulus funds given to cities, as there is an expiration date on the money.

The quickest job that can be done using that money, without extensive planning is repaving a street that may or may not need it.

Ticketing a car while the driver is still in the car is definitely going overboard. Double-parked cars should only be given a ticket if nobody is in the car.

It doesn't matter if the driver is in the car while it's double parked. The car is still blocking traffic. That's why it gets ticketed. The law doesn't make a distinction as to whether there is anyone in the car, nor should it. If you're in the car behind the one double parked, or the bus or (to be a bit extreme) if you're the patient in the ambulance behind the double parked car, you're just as inconvenienced because, let's face it, even if there is a driver in the car, that car isn't going anywhere, no matter how long you honk your horn.

The law sure does make a distinction on where they patrol. Low income areas (except for Manhattan), unleash the hounds. Rich suburban single family home paradise? Never.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/26/nyregion/20081128_PARKING.html

Judging from that map, the focus appears to be on areas and blocks with heavy vehicular traffic. Makes sense to me.

let's face it, even if there is a driver in the car, that car isn't going anywhere, no matter how long you honk your horn.

- why can't the car be moved if there's someone in it?

Of course it can be, but that doesn't mean it will be.

Many of the complaints about that kind of thing come from people not knowing the law. There's a common misperception that it's legal to stop in a "no parking" zone if you stay in the car, but in fact it is not. The only exception is if you're actively loading or unloading passengers or property. In that case, you can only do so "temporarily," which means two minutes or less.

You're in violation if the sign says "no standing" unless you're picking up or dropping off passengers (again, "temporarily"). Loading or unloading property doesn't qualify as "standing," even if someone's sitting in the driver's seat with the engine running.

So in most of the cases that people complain about regarding TEAs issuing tickets, the agent was actually right and the ticket was legally deserved. The driver just didn't understand the law.