Patty's Taco Truck, a popular spot usually parked on the Upper East Side, was towed yesterday. Unfortunately, Patty and company were in the middle of a rally against the city's street vendor fines when it happened. Cops charged them for selling merchandise in front of a parking meter, which yes, is illegal [pdf] and towed the truck away from about 20 protesters who had gathered. Truck co-owner Alberto Loera told the Post, "It's unfair, the cops will give you a ticket for anything." Protesters reportedly chanted, "We're hungry for justice" as the truck was hauled away, but they were also probably hungry for lunch. more ›

If it wasn't bad enough that there are thousands of city workers getting away with using illegal parking placards to park wherever they want without getting a ticket, it turns out there's a little-known perk that gives politicians the ability to get out of car jail for free every time: no matter how many tickets a politician gets, their official cars will never get hauled off to the pound. more ›

Apparently the city's ticket issuers haven't been briefed on some new parking rules. That or they thought they could just pull a fast one on MyFoxNY. Not so! The channel did some research on behalf of beleaguered New Yorkers getting ticketed up to $165 for parking at the corner of a T-intersection, and found that many spaces—even those with curb cuts—are perfectly legal. more ›

The latest adventure of Brooklynite Jake Bronstein raises an interesting question. To start off, he was loaned a vehicle by a car company that he custom picked the design for (it includes pink dots, a detail that is important later on in the story). Put aside any problems you may have with the corporate shilling for a moment: the car is missing! Or is it? He explains:

The police said they didn’t tow it; their automated number said they didn’t tow it; hell, even my frequent and frantic calls to all of the city’s tow-lots all turned up the same response… “the NYPD does not have this car.” I found a meter-man who said that on occasion cars get towed. And sometimes, just sometimes, they wind up in the system with the wrong plate number. When that happens, you’re pretty much screwed because the city will say they don’t have the car… and because they won’t let you walk around the lots they tow them to, that’ll pretty much be the end of it. Forever.