Everyone thank you very much for your comments. The parking of scooters and motorcycles in New York and NYC has become increasingly problematic.

State law requires Muni Meter receipts to be placed on your dashboard, which most motorcycles do not have. The DOT's ridiculous offer to mail out pouches won't help tourists and visitors and the state's stance of "just buy the receipt when you park and mail it in with your defense if you receive a summons" is utterly absurd. And a side effect of the intended more efficient use of parking real estate by cars is that it is nearly impossible for scooters and motorcycles to park with sufficient clearance not to be knocked over by "touch parking" motorists, often causing hundreds or even thousands of dollars in damages.

New York has has a long history of ignoring motorcyclists' existence except when they can be exploited as a revenue source and it is time to change that.

Remember however, that loud racing exhaust systems, parking on sidewalks, obscuring VIN markings and removing registration tags from vehicles on public property are all illegal. We understand why some folks do it but that does not make it right.

If you want to try to make it legal, back up your token acts of civil disobedience by joining a motorcycle rights organization that supports your goals.

The NYMSTF (and yes, this IS a plug) wants - among many other things - to see the Muni Meter issues fixed, wants to designate all striped off areas of roadway as motorcycle -only parking, and seeks to have lane splitting legalized too.

Ride safe,

-Brad

I had a Vespa when I lived in Milwaukee, WI. The greatest thing about it was that I could park the thing on any sidewalk downtown and it was perfectly legal. It was better than riding the subway. Just take the scooter to your destination and leave it in front. I understand why that would be difficult in some parts of NYC. But available parking is a big factor in choosing my means of transportation.

Take a tip from motorcyclists: get a motorcycle cover, and find a good sidewalk spot to park that is unobtrusive.

Make the cover completely envelop the bike, and secure the straps under it. Then thread a regular bicycle lock through the looping holes.

99.9% of the time, ticket maids will not take the effort to pull off the cover, they have to take a knife to cut it open.

HAHA mistype. asshole. You can't read!

Revving engines? Maybe on motorcycles and older Vespas. Modern scooters have automatic transmissions. You can't gun the engine without moving.

Oh snap, there's also a statute, 170.70, that makes it a class E felony to possess a vehicle with a defaced/altered/removed VIN. So the "somebody else did it defense" ain't gonna fly.

Ah, found it in the New York criminal law:

Section 170.65 Forgery of a vehicle identification number

 A person is guilty of forgery of a vehicle identification number when:

 (1) He knowingly destroys, covers, defaces, alters or otherwise changes the form or appearance of a vehicle identification number on any vehicle or component part thereof, except tires;  or

 (2) He removes any such number from a vehicle or component part thereof, except as required by the provisions of the vehicle and traffic law;  or

 (3) He affixes a vehicle identification number to a vehicle, except in accordance with the provisions of the vehicle and traffic law.

 Forgery of a vehicle identification number is a class E felony.

I also want special parking for expensive vehicles since they also can "sometimes get damaged...when they park"

Jacque, pulling the plate might get you some hassle and a fine but I agree that messing with the VIN is a Real Bad Idea. Defacing/removing a VIN is a felony pretty much everywhere, even in the federal system I think. Is it worth doing state prison or federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison time just to try to avoid a parking ticket? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no.

Not to mention if you remove the VIN then you will never again be able to prove that the bike belongs to you.

Truth.

Scraping, switching, or otherwise defacing your VIN number will draw a felony charge in short order. I think I mentioned this in the Vespa Sweep 2009 article.

My VIN, OTOH, is obscured by the left fork when the head is locked, leaving only the last 5 digits visible.

I'll pay the piper should the day come where pulling my plate catches up with me.

A friend of mine has a Vespa and removes the plate when she parks overnight. She does this not because she's trying to avoid a parking ticket, but because her plate has been stolen three times in less than a year. She finally attached it with screws and someone still ripped it off! What's a person to do?

The NYC motorcycle and scooter communities have long wanted designated, legal parking, but the initiatives seem to always reach a deadend. Once upon a time, I was told that it was up to the city community boards to see the need in their areas and ask City Hall for the designated two-wheeled parking. This creates a long, cumbersome, splintered process where the issue dies on the vine as people move on (out of the two-wheeled community or off their community board). Futher, it's not a hot-button issue for the majority, but hopefully with persistence and through the right channels the task force will be successful. Many would appreciate and benefit from it.

Fortunately, for many Red Hook is an area that doesn't have as much problem finding parking, but no doubt the group's leader has more trouble in Manhattan.

Good luck! You'll have a lot of benchwarmers cheering you on.

I too have an MCY endorsement but this is why we can't have nice things. I understand all the de facto motorcycle places are gone (remember Columbus circle?) but parking on the sidewalk or crosswalks and defacing VIN's are pretty high up there in the no-no department.

The TEA's might not ticket you but I'm pretty sure NYPD will find a way to get that VIN number on the ticket.

CR, it's not legal to take your plates off when parking. Some people do it because the parking enforcement guys will often not write a ticket if there is no plate. They could write a ticket off the VIN but for whatever reason that happens infrequently.

The risk, though, when you park on city property without a plate is that the vehicle can be towed by the city marshal as abandoned property. That also doesn't happen very often but it does happen.

so if a vespa is parked on my block w/o a license plate, i can call 311 to have it towed?

Yes, if it helps you dull the pain of your petty, worthless existence until you can cry yourself to sleep...

I saw it happen on Grand st this summer. In fact, Gothamist had a post on it that very day.

QQ? Cagers? I learn more useless info from the comments every day.

haha..me too!

I don't understand how it's legal to take your plates off a vehicle when parking it.