Results tagged “motorvehicles”

The shift comes as the governor has faced a firestorm of criticism both from Republicans and from within his own party. More than a dozen county clerks, who operate Department of Motor Vehicles offices upstate, have refused to carry out the policy, even though they are considered agents of the governor’s administration.

Continue reading "Spitzer Bends on License Plan"

Gov. Spitzer announced yesterday that illegal immigrants will be able to get valid New York State drivers licenses if they provide a valid and verifiable foreign passport. Spitzer hopes that the change, which reverses a four-year-old Pataki-era decision, will legitimize the 500,000-1 million undocumented immigrants who are driving in New York. In a repudiation of the federal government's stance, the governor said "We will not become part of what is propagated on the federal level that if we don't admit they are here then we can somehow not provide services. That is bad policy."

Yesterday, the controversial immigration bill proposed by President Bush stalled in the Senate when both Republicans and Democrats could not come to a final vote. The bill, which neither party liked very much for different reasons, represented a historic to change immigration law, and both parties tried to work on a compromise that would satisfy most Senators. Sixty votes were needed to stop debate and move to a final vote, but there were only 45 votes (37 Democrat - including Senators Schumer and Clinton - 7 Republican and 1 Independent) to break the filibuster.

It's some Daily News gossip gold on this quiet Thanksgiving weekend: Fabian Basabe, who you may or may not know from such incidents as suing Bungalow 8, getting thrown out of a Hamptons club and calling the doorman "Negro," dirty-dancing with Barbara Bush and being seen about town (we needed to check the Jossip index on him to familiarize ourselves), was "arrested for drunken driving, driving without a license, and running a red light" on Wednesday night, according to the Daily News exclusive.

Critics of red light cameras, take note. A woman was given a $50 ticket after the camera didn't catch her license. Yes, didn't! Lisa Sims of Ohio who has never been to New York City was issued the ticket when, somehow, her license plate which starts with DQN was mistaken for a car with DON that ran a red light on West Houston in June. Sims offered pitch perfect quotes to the Daily News,

"I didn't want to go there to begin with and now I really don't want to go... If I'm going to get tickets like this when I've never been there, then what's going to happen if I do go.. They're pretty much slackers if you ask me. It makes me wonder how many people who don't want to go through the hassle end up just paying the ticket."

Sing it, sister! The city threw out the ticket, but only after Sims had to spend a lot of time and effort proving the car wasn't hers. This is pretty damn embarrassing - now our only question is did they find the true person who ran the red light, because Houston Street is a damn mess and no one should be running red lights or turning right on red there.