In what must be a recruitment attempt from the NYPD, the Post reports that traffic agents in the Westchester Square neighborhood of The Bronx can park their cars for free. The department allows two traffic agents per shift to stand at the corner of St. Raymond and East Tremont avenues, making sure nobody touches their colleague's cars—even if the two-hour parking meters have run out. 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 ›