NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Two City Council bills proposed on Thursday by Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler take aim at the long-abused parking placard system that city employees use to park illegally.
Placards are supposed to make it easier for municipal workers to park while they’re on the job, but the program is widely abused.
City employees park in bus stops, bike lanes, sidewalks and other inappropriate areas even when off duty or after their placards have expired.
The legislation would force city agencies to revoke almost all placards — with exceptions made for most teachers and workers whose union contracts stipulate they are entitled to one.
Restler estimated about 60,000 placards would be affected by the law.
“Every day, placard abuse forces neighbors using wheelchairs to navigate unsafe sidewalks, cyclists to go up against oncoming traffic, and parents to push strollers into the street,” he wrote in an op-ed announcing the legislation in Streetsblog. “We have one of the most well connected subway and bus systems in the world — there’s no reason someone needs to drive their car to work only to block a bike lane or sidewalk all day long.”
A related bill would put a bounty on placard abuse reporting. New Yorkers would get 25% of the fine value for reporting an illegal placard to the Department of Transportation.
A similar program already exists that offers a reward for reporting idling trucks.
Restler’s predecessor Stephen Levin failed to pass similar legislation aimed at curtailing placard abuse during his time on the City Council.
The NYPD is legally obligated to produce a report on placard abuse every six months, but, according to the New York Post, the department has failed to meet this obligation three times out of four since the law was passed in late 2019.
Data collected by City Council shows police fail to take action on about two thirds of all placard abuse complaints.
Along with the DOT and the Department of Education, the NYPD is one of the agencies primarily responsible for issuing placards, and, as a result, NYPD officers are some of the most frequent offenders of placard abuse.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to address placard abuse late in his second term in office, but Mayor Eric Adams said he was focused on crime instead.
He ostensibly meant crime other than placard abuse, which is a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
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