Thread by @richmintz

We’re at the NYC City Council transportation hearing, which is about to turn to placard abuse. Corey Johnson begins his opening statement.

Johnson: Parking isn’t just about where we put cars, it’s about how we allocate limited valuable street space.

In 3 minutes, Johnson makes a forceful safety case for keeping bus and bike lanes clear, ending sidewalk parking, and everything else. “I’m proud of this entire package, and proud to sponsor 3 of the bills.”

Johnson: “No traffic enforcement agent should feel intimidated into ignoring illegal parking”

Intro 1395 would require 311 to accept a wider variety of parking complaints and accept photos.

Intro 1394 would ban parking BY CITY VEHICLES in bike lane, bus lane, hydrant, or crosswalk except in a DOCUMENTED emergency.

Now @ydanis is talking about the 5 bills. 3 introduced by Johnson: 1393 requires NYPD to investigate 311 placard hotspots every week and report the results to the DOI. 1394 and 1395 per above. Intro 1412 by @BobHoldenNYC will require immediate towing except in emergency. And...

Intro 1422 by @KeithPowersNYC will centralize placard issuance through a new agency.

First speaker: exec dir of legislative affairs from NYPD. “NYPD recognizes that congestion can impact quality of life and health.” NYPD Transpo bureau is responsible for traffic-related policies.

Says in 2018 NYPD issued 9M summonses. Claims to be conducting “targeted” bus lane enforcement. Cites CTTF which does traffic control enforcement at “focused” intersections.

Says NYPD needs to be able to park illegally while on business (!). “We cannot simply focus on or inflate abuse.” Cites impact on safety.

NYPD issues placards to a range of agencies for parking their personal vehicles near their agencies. “We acknowledge that placard misuse by city personnel including our personnel has occurred.” But says NYPD has targeted personnel to deal with it.

Says they will summons their personnel who misuse placards. Says their targeted placard enforcement agency of 108 TEAs tackles known trouble spots, issued 54K placard summonses in 2018 (11K by this agency). Towed 891 cars in 2018 for placard abuse.

(Side note: there are more than 891 placard misusers right this minute within a 5-minute walk of City Hall.)

Refers to Mayor’s announced bus lane tow truck strike force, which I’ve seen no evidence of on our streets.

Now turns to the bills. NYPD opposes 1393 (requiring weekly surveys of placard trouble spots) because it usurps @NYPDONeill’s authority on how to deploy staff, and would require hiring and training.

Re 1394 (prohibiting city vehicles in bus lanes etc. if not emergency): sounds like NYPD would not object with some modifications.

Re 1395 (311 standards and requirements): short timeline for response would be hard to comply with.

Re 1412, requiring towing: NYPD is concerned that it would place a strain on their resources since officers would be required to remain on site until towing company arrived.

Re 1422 (centralizing placard issuance under DOT): opposes for NYPD bc fleet vehicle placards shouldn’t be covered, and bc NYPD should have authority to decide how many placards to issue, and also bc police officers’ names would appear on the permits and that’s a safety risk.

NYPD speaker was Oleg Chernyavsky.

Now, Margaret Forgione, COO of @NYC_DOT. Speaking about their physical placard program, and proposed parking management system which would integrate placard info (tied to tag) with meter info to help TEAs.

DOT also proposes to institute a new Traffic Rule that makes improper placard use a separate violation with its own $50 penalty on top of the parking violation.

DOT proposes to hire team this year to focus on Lower Manhattan, which would be empowered to issue summonses.

DOT says existing placard issuance system is stronger than the one proposed by Intro 1422, because they issue their placards through fleet liaisons, not to individuals. Says the permissible uses in 1422 (eg no bike lanes) line up with existing rules, the problem is enforcement.

Re 1394: says traffic rules already prohibit bus lane, bike lane, etc.; we don’t need a new bill.

Now: testimony by Bill Reda of NYC 311. 311 got 44M contacts last year. Concerned about Intro 1395 (obv). Notes 311 is not an enforcement agency, all it can do is refer to NYPD.

Now questions from @NYCSpeakerCoJo. How many valid placards exist? DOT: we issue 48K/yr, NYPD 44K, DOB 32K. Each dept has a permit liaison that works w DOT. (Many city vehicles don’t need permits.)

Johnson asks whether requests are ever denied? Yes. Do all placards that are issued serve a city purpose? DOT: Yes, at the time they’re issued.

Johnson asks about Fed/state placards. Notes the bus stop on 10 Av btw 16/17 where DEA agents have been parked daily FOR YEARS and nothing is done.

NYPD says: when we do enforcement, we don’t tell our TEAs to bypass enforcement of non-city placards.

Johnson pushes back; when we see union cards and vests as fake placards, we know enforcement isn’t happening.

Johnson cites W 55 St as shown online by @placardabuse, says there’s been no enforcement for a year!

NYPD on vests, PBA cards, etc.: “we categorize those different from placard abuse,” 6500 summonses in 2018.

NYPD on TEAs unwillingness to cite law enforcement placards: says enforcement is up. (Editor’s note: I have never seen a single summons on a law enforcement placard vehicle ever.)

NYPD says we have a space limitation in the tow pound, and booting is counterproductive. “When there’s a significant impact on traffic, we will tow.” That’s a terrible answer.

Johnson notes summonsing on W 55 St hasn’t had a deterrent effect, Elk St (here nearby) he called NYPD and said “nothing can be done for federal vehicles.” There doesn’t seem to be a consistent enforcement response.

NYPD refers to 3 strikes rule. Johnson: “you’re not enforcing so what does it matter?” NYPD: 55K summonses is a big number!

NYPD: 3200 placard abuse complaints via 311 in 2018. (I don’t understand what he means, placard abuse isn’t a 311 category.) Pushes back and says it’s our responsibility to tell the NYPD where the problem is.

Johnson: at what point do you escalate to towing, since summonsing doesn’t work? NYPD: Bla bla bla.

Johnson on De Blasio’s “buy/lease parking garages” nonsense:
How do we ask NYC residents to reduce their car use if we won’t do it for employees? DOT: In hotspots like around courts, it may be necessary. But there’s no concrete plan now.

Johnson: Are we promising free parking to every uniformed officer in the city? NYPD dodges the question.

Johnson again refers to @placardabuse twitter account. Asks if NYPD monitors it? Reply: Our placard unit may monitor it. Johnson: They should.

DOT says that yes, they monitor the @placardabuse twitter account on a daily basis.

Johnson asks whether DOT has ever followed up to discipline placard offenders who were featured on the @placardabuse twitter account. DOT: Yes. (!)

Johnson asks the NYPD whether placard abuse could be considered corruption. NYPD, awkwardly: Yes.

Johnson: I don’t think the efforts NYPD is talking about are successfully convincing the public that placard abuse is being curtailed.

NYPD: I think it’s undeniable that increasing summonses by 30% in a year is having an impact. (It’s deniable. —Ed.)

Johnson: Another complaint, city vehicle parked in a bus lane. What’s the policy for allowing city vehicles to park in bus or bike lanes? NYPD: That is a last resort for when we’re conducting emergency operations, but if there’s an alternative we shouldn’t park there.

Johnson: You’ll summons and tow a city vehicle?! NYPD: Sometimes. (I don’t believe this. —Ed.)

Johnson: how many times have city employees been disciplined for parking placard abuse? DOT can’t answer. NYPD: 61 in the past 22 months have risen to the level of discipline.

Johnson: Do you get enough info from 311 to respond in a timely manner? NYPD: Yes. But placard/parking complaint is a snapshot in time. It may be gone in 30 seconds. Johnson: Yes, but it usually isn’t.

NYPD says they use placard 311s to drive ongoing enforcement locations.

Johnson: NYPD objects to being directed by legislation (1393) to do the weekly survey of placard hotspots. I’ve flagged problem locations over and over and nothing changed. The NYPD has forced us into a corner via inaction.

NYPD pushes back, saying you shouldn’t tell us where to place resources. Johnson: Don’t we do that currently? NYPD: I don’t think so. Johnson: NYPD is a city agency governed by the council. It’s well within our purview and the charter.

I should have brought a bottle of whiskey so I could take a swig every time @NYCSpeakerCoJo cites the @placardabuse twitter account

Johnson: What we’re seeing right now on placards isn’t working, so something needs to change. If what comes out of this hearing changes behavior (summonses AND tows), maybe we won’t need to go that far.

Now @ydanis asking about the NYPD placard unit. Started in 2017. They respond to 311 complaints, they go direct to the site and take summons action. They watch hotspots that have been identified. In addition, the 100 TEAs hired in 2017.

Wait. The NYPD is now saying that the 108 TEAs dedicated to placards issued 44K 2018 summonses (and 800 tows), and the dozen or so officers in the Placard Unit issued 11K/100. That apparently means that the eleventy jillion regular TEAs on patrol issued ...zero.

Rodriguez asks NYPD how many placards have been revoked for misuse. NYPD, after extended fumbling, deliberate misunderstanding, and misdirection, won’t answer. The answer appears to be zero. (If I got this kind of response in my courtroom I’d hold the witness in contempt.)

@StephenLevin33: I work in downtown Brooklyn. Placard abuse is rampant. A third of my twitter feed is placard abuse-related. (Cites the car garbage field at BQE/Tillary.)

Levin: “There’s a badge of some kind, a vest of some kind, a decal of some kind. That’s not even placard abuse! It’s just, like, a secret code.”

NYPD: in 2018 we issued 6000 “paraphernalia” placard abuse summonses.

Now CM @FCabreraNY notes that in order to be effective, enforcement has to be consistent. “The fines should be higher. It should be a thousand dollars. That would get people’s attention.”

Side note: I’m surprised how many city council members (a) don’t understand that placard abuse is not currently illegal, and you get ticketed only for the specific illegal parking offense you commit; and (b) don’t have any idea how much a parking fine is in NYC.

Cabrera: Why can’t we get garage/lot parking for fleet vehicles so the (free) street parking can be available for residents? (Ugh, again with the free car storage.) “We’re starving for parking. We’re suffocating. It’s getting people very very angry.”

Now @IDaneekMiller. Talking about parking near courthouses and other places where services are delivered. Brought photos of sidewalk parking. “There are areas where parking becomes disrespectful to the people we all serve.”

@IDaneekMiller now talking about courthouse placards blocking designated commuter van parking near Parsons/Archer, causing the commuter vans to get summonses for double parking while placard offenders are ignored.

Asks NYPD whether there’s “no enforcement zones.” NYPD talks about the 30% increase in placard summonses, but what nobody is saying is that far less than 1% of the offenders are currently being summonsed.

Asks again if there are areas where summonses are not written. NYPD: “I don’t think so.” What nobody is saying is that regular TEAs never write placard summonses.

@IDaneekMiller is doing the math out loud: a spot audit in downtown Jamaica found 500 placard violators on one day. In a year that’s in the range of 15000 placard incidents just in that one zone. 55K summonses is vastly inadequate.

@ydanis asks about whether employee collective bargaining agreements require parking. Both DOT and NYPD say yes, some agreements do.

NYPD: in 2018 we issued 30K bus lane violations and ~70K bus stop violations. @ydanis asks about BDB’s bus lane tow truck force. It sounds like nothing has happened.

Gonna stop now because at this point it’s just me, @ydanis, the witnesses, and the people from NY1 left in the room

This answer incidentally is a reason to pass @BobHoldenNYC’s intro 1412, which would require private towing of illegally parked vehicles, since the police are now on record that they won’t do it unless it’s impeding car traffic.

(To be fair @vinbarone, @dahvnyc, and @transalt all lasted longer than I did)