The city is finally giving motorists a break.
On December 1, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed legislation (Intro 812-A) passed overwhelmingly by the City Council that allows drivers to park at broken meters for the maximum length of time permitted on the sign.
The law will take effect on March 1, 2009. Up till then, the rule varies depending upon whether the meter is broken or absent, according to the DOT website.
“If a meter is broken, you can park for a maximum of one hour, even if the posted sign is for a longer time period. If the meter is missing, you can park for the maximum amount of time posted on the signs,” the website explains.
This confusing regulation has caused numerous motorists — nearly 40,000 last year — to be ticketed unfairly, contends City Councilmember Simcha Felder, who sponsored the legislation.
“People are upset about tickets in general,” remarked Felder, “but there are some tickets that are so exceptionally outrageous that it seems they deserve the Oscar for most ludicrous tickets.
“Under the existing law, you have places where you can park for up to six hours but, if the meter is broken, you can stay for only one hour,” Felder explained. “The average person looks at the sign and may not realize that if the meter is broken you have to move after one hour.
“Tickets should not be issued to raise revenue,” Felder stressed. “They should be used for compliance.”
City Councilmember John Liu, chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee, concurred. “The broken-meter rule is another example of city parking rules that are grounded in faulty premises and yet unduly penalize conscientious and law-abiding citizens,” Liu said.
The city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) originally opposed the law, Felder noted. He recalled that, at a City Council hearing on the matter, the DOT official testifying had contended that the change Felder had proposed, “would encourage people to break meters.”
But, added Felder, ultimately, “They saw the light and the mayor signed the bill.”
“While regulating parking is necessary,” noted Bloomberg at the bill signing, “It should not be overly confusing or burdensome. Introductory Number 812-A goes a long way towards achieving that objective.”
Nonetheless, it was during Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor that the regulation now being outlawed was introduced. Glen Bolofsky, the president of Parkingticket.com, said that, for perhaps half a century, drivers were allowed to park at broken meters for the time period specified on the sign.
“About a year and a half ago, they sneaked in a change to the administrative rules, modifying them without consulting the City Council and without public comment,” Bolofsky recounted. “What they did was a money-raising effort to change a long-established rule.”
At the hearing on the matter, Bolofsky added, the DOT official had been unable to cite the number of meters that were deliberated damaged, though, Bolofsky said, the official had contended that there had been “a spike” in such vandalism in one month.
When asked how many broken meters constituted the spike, Bolofsky continued, the official had said 11. “So, obviously, that was not the real reason for the change,” Bolofsky concluded.
