Street Sweepers Could Get Cameras To Bust Illegally Parked Cars

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If Mayor Bloomberg has his way, street sweeper drivers could soon do double duty as shutterbugs, with cameras installed on their cacophonous machines to capture parking scofflaws. At Bloomberg's request, Long Island Republican Senator Dean Skelos "quietly" introduced a bill last month to permit the city to install cameras on street sweepers, the Times reports. It's a big step for Big Brother, and would follow in the footsteps of other cities like D.C., where the contraptions are called "Sweepercams." Now all we need is Albany to take action!

But in a shocking turn of events, it seems unlikely the Albany legislature will pass the bill anytime soon—they all go on vacation next week, and the bill has yet to be introduced in the Assembly. And that's just fine with the union that represents sanitation enforcement agents, who worry they'll be John Henry'd out of a job. Nobody's talking about cutting back on enforcement agents (yet) through the introduction of Sweepercams—which would start with a limited trial program on street-cleaning routes in 25 of the city’s 59 community districts—but the union's president tells the Times, "It’s a no-win initiative. They want to push my members out. That’s my fear. That’s what it’s going to boil down to, if it’s productive."

Under the proposal, the fines would not change (nor is revenue expected to increase), and blocks patrolled by Sweepercams would get signage notifying car owners of the new camera enforcement. Those caught on camera violating parking regulations would get a ticket with at least one photo in the mail, which does seem preferable to those nasty shame stickers the agents put on car windows.

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By John Del Signore in News on June 13, 2011 12:02 PM

Comments [rss]

zincink

They just want to give out more tickets... No wonder everyone moved to Brooklyn.

groganz

Effectiveness of the sweepers aside, this is a very good idea. Usually when the sweeper comes by you can't just pull out and re-park your car because the 'meter maid' drives the route anywhere from 5-30 mins behind it. You can end up getting a ticket even if you were in compliance. So the neighborhood has half the parking spots for roughly 2 hours, which is a total waste. Plus, enforcement is inconsistent. When I was car-sitting last summer some jerks would just leave their cars in the street and move them well after the sweeper came by because the meter maid always ran an hour late.

ogie

street sweepers? what are these devices you speak of? Alternate side of the street parking? what crazy world is this? oh yea forgot on Staten Island we don't have any of that nonsense.

kevd

Hey buddy. This site is about New York City, not some island in New Jersey.

ogie

do you mean the part of nyc that is infested with people from the midwest or the part of nyc filled with russians, or chinese immigrants?

Trustafarian

hehe staten island. cute

SPsGhost

this would be somewhat acceptable if the street cleaning thing wasn't a scam to begin with. those things don't clean the street, they blow dirt all over the place and leave a smear of filth behind them. they are just a rationalization for imposing alternate side parking bans at mostly impossible hours, thereby ensuring a steady influx of revenue. it's a total racket.

whitecastlerock

Why not affix working sweepers to these street sweepers? For the bullshit caused by alternate side street cleaning, these things do NOTHING but push the dirt three inches onto the sidewalks...