City Wants Its $700 Million In Owed Parking Tickets

Flickr user Hello Turkey Toe

The city's Department of Finance is beginning to enlist collection agencies to get their hands on $680 million in fines motorists have failed to pay since 2002, and some city drivers are calling the move too aggressive. "Collection agencies? That seems a bit harsh," driver Sophie Celha told the Daily News. "I think it's a cheap shot. They're getting enough money from the meters and tickets as it is." The nerve of them, asking people to actually pay their tickets.

David M. Frankel, the city’s finance commissioner, told the Times, “We have not taken anywhere near an aggressive enough posture to collect this money. We’re going to take a much more aggressive stand.” Previously, the city would let any person's overdue fines accumulate to $800 before sending out a collection agency, but now the agencies will be used to collect on any amount. The city will also suspend the registration of any car owner who is delinquent on five violations within 12 months. $209 million owed by 446,000 drivers has already been sent to collection agencies.

One of the worst drivers is Anthony Torres, who owes $57,526. But he claims the tickets were accumulated when he lent his van to a friend to make deliveries, and it's tough for him to pay off the debt on his salary of $7.50 an hour. “I learned my lesson: Don’t trust your friends," Torres said. “Hopefully, things will turn around and I’ll be able to do the right thing and pay off my debt." The Department of Finance says it's not asking anything ridiculous, and that the fines will help pay off the city's $3.3 billion budget gap. Or they'll just blow it all on something stupid like a new font for street signs.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on December 5, 2010 10:48 AM

Comments [rss]

ProcedureTurn

Ride more bikes!!!!

proudliberal1947

Here is a perfect solution BAN driving in NYC, use ONLY mass transit that runs on Electric ,Propane or a combination. Keep the TERRORIST Anti American Corporations out of all negotiations and Build the schedule tom serve the public. Remember the key is to keep the Anti American Terrorist Corporations OUT of the project.

soxinthecity

I'd like to write a longer reply to your comment, but I'm double parked in a bike lane so I gotta go.

Haephaestus

The easy solution is to pay your fines and take your lumps. Though parking fines are outrageous, it's not like a traffic violation where there may exist some fuzziness-- you took your keys out with the intention of leaving your car in a spot that can be ticketable. Most parking regulations don't leave much to doubt, there's a time limit posted and if you can't tell time, which is universal (even in the cosmic sense, although it's likely a different scale), it really leaves no other excuses.

Mr Mel

What ever happened to those parking "Boots?" They prevented scofflaws from driving away. In order to get the vehicle back you had to pay any outstanding tickets.

j44ke

I think boots were done away with because of damage to vehicles that created court issues for the city, and that plus the sheer number of boots & manpower hours that would be necessary for enforcement would make them pretty costly. The use of boots also creates a situation that invites corruption at the street level in that you must settle your ticket at the curb in order to get the boot removed. I know that was the way in several countries I've lived in where boots were used. Come out, see the boot, call the cop using the number on the ticket, he/she shows up and the negotiations commence.

taracorinne

I think many boots are easy to remove and are costly. I've heard of people being able to remove them off their cars which defeats the purpose and the expense of buying the boot in the first place.

Ph

No. It is not easy to remove those boots. Actually It'd be pretty hard not to fuck up the car while doing so unless you had major power tools (and a blow torch) with you and even then you'd still probably fuck up the disks and the rubber of the tires.

They're also not terribly expensive compared to the revenue they can potentially contribute.

You don't want to remove a boot primarily because the city technically has a 'lien' like status on the car once they boot it. They've taken possession of the car in lieu of you paying the fine (and unlocking fee). If you remove the boot you're technically stealing from the government to the tune of the value of the car which is a felony and will get you time.

They don't boot in the city because most people that would get booted would say fuck it and just leave the car and then the city would have problems with street side parking. The impound system, which they use, is much more effective.

Spirit of 76

I don't think they'd have a problem with abandoned cars. The people wouldn't have driven them if they didn't think they needed them. They want their cars back as soon as possible. Besides, if an owner left a booted car for a while, NYPD could just come back, remove the boot and tow it. Then you'd have to pay the towing charge, too, on top of the boot charge and all the tickets.

jaycjay

I've never tried to remove one, but some people say it's not hard. There are instructions easily found online, like here:
http://www.associatedcontent.c...

I've seen boots on cars only a couple of times in NYC, both times in "police parking only" spots within half a block from my local precinct. They also had stickers on the windows stating that the vehicle is evidence and to enter it, tamper with it, or remove it is a crime.

So... not actually illegally parked cars.

Spirit of 76

It is possible to forcibly remove a boot, but it's not recommended. Think about it. NYPD already found you once. They keep records of which car they booted. If the car drives off with tickets unpaid and boot removed, they'll know you did it. That's yet another crime and you'll be hit with a fine for that much bigger than your average parking ticket, on top of your previous fines. Plus having your registration revoked. If they find you again, and it would be likely unless they booted you in a neighborhood you don't normally visit, your car will get a quick trip to the impound.

A more likely reason is the sheer scale of the problem. The story mentions almost a half million drivers for 1/4 of the owed amount. Assuming the remaining drivers aren't as bad, let's say the total number of scofflaw drivers is a million. That's an awful lot of boots.