Mayor Promises to Crack Down on City Employees Who Abuse Parking Placards
A week after issuing more than 50,000 new parking placards to city workers, Mayor Bill de Blasio is promising to crack down on their improper use.
"We are going to be very clear to all city employees from a whole host of agencies that placards must only be used as designated and not abused for personal gain," de Blasio told reporters at a press conference in the South Bronx Wednesday.
Placards don't allow people to park illegally; instead, they permit them to use designated spaces near their workplaces. Yet de Blasio said abuse is rampant and it contributes to traffic congestion, blocked crosswalks and blocked fire hydrants.
"There has to be a [designated] space available," de Blasio said. "If someone is going for a noon appointment and all the spaces are taken up [they] have to find parking on the street like anybody else would, or feed the meter like anyone else would."
De Blasio also told reporters he welcomes people who shine a light on public malfeasance — which the Twitter feed "Placard Corruption" has been doing since January 2016.
Here is @NYPDONeill's #fakecrackdown on illegal license plate covers working harder than ever this morning @DOINews @OIGNYPD.
— placard corruption (@placardabuse) May 12, 2017
Cc @MMViverito pic.twitter.com/MiwzuXq7rp
The mayor told reporters, in response to videos like this, that improper training may sometimes play a role in traffic officers not properly enforcing parking placard laws.
“I thinks it’s fair to say sometimes a traffic agent might be confused by mixed messages in a situation,” he said.
The man behind the "Placard Corruption" account spoke to WNYC, but wouldn't give his name out of fear of reprisal, since many of the vehicles he photographs belong to police officers, he said.
He said this isn't the first time the mayor and the police commissioner have promised change.
"I and a lot of other people are really hopeful that this is going to go in a positive direction, but we've been disappointed before," he said.
To combat abuse, de Blasio said the city will hire 100 new traffic agents, add more tow trucks to get rid of cars that are parked illegally and institute new fines for employees who misuse the placards. But Twitter user "Placard Corruption" said it's about the will, not the manpower.
"There's a full-time army of people already out there. The problem is they're not providing the enforcement when it comes to the placards," he said.
Currently, the mayor said there are about 150,000 placards in use: the New York City Police Department issues 44,496; the Department of Transportation issues 54,020, and the Department of Education issues around 50,000.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo also tried to reform the parking placard system, with mixed results.
5/25 Editor's note: this story has been updated to reflect placard numbers distributed by, not issued to, city agencies.
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