To the untrained eye, this may look like a perfectly legal parking job, but the eagle-eyed parking enforcement agents at the Staten Island Mall know better. One of them slapped a $45 ticket onto the windshield of 63-year-old Kenneth Seymour's Hyundai last month, because the car's wheels were touching the blue line. But Seymour, a disabled Vietnam veteran, knows a thing or two about when things are over the line, so he went and fought for his basic freedoms against an arbitrator at the Staten Island Business Center. Unfortunately, NYC parking regulations aren't like 'Nam, there are rules. more ›

Some New Yorkers love the city's spike in parking summonses: the traffic enforcement agents who get paid to write the tickets. A New York Times review of city records found that more than 700 agents increased their wages by 20 percent with overtime in the 2008 fiscal year. Others raised their pay by over 50 percent, and one workaholic even doubled his income. In all, the city coughed up $13 million in overtime pay to traffic agents, on top off $68 million in regular pay. In return, traffic agents generated $578.6 million in revenues for the city in FY08, up from $366.6 million in 2002. One interesting fact in the article; according to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, construction sites that disrupt street traffic reimburse the city for the cost of traffic agent overtime. But some critics, like Carol Kellerman of the Citizens Budget Commission, think the city should limit overtime because it obscures "what work force is needed to do the job and what it is being paid." On the other hand, union president James Huntley explains that traffic agents have an insatiable hunger for OT, and "if you take it from them, they might cry." more ›

Governor Paterson signed legislation making any assault on traffic enforcement agents a possible felony. The Sun reports that previously, an assault on traffic agent was a misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines), but now the felony charge could bring 7-8 years in jail. One traffic agent told NY1, "I came out my vehicle to issue a summons, I started and the motorist came out his car and punched me on my head." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly added, "The message here is clear: If you touch a traffic enforcement agent, you go to jail." more ›