UncivilServants.org: Cleaning Up Illegal Permit Parking

12:22 AM EDT on March 15, 2007

In New York City, a privileged class of workers numbering in the thousands breaks the law every day by using government-issued permits to park their personal vehicles wherever they want. They disrupt traffic, create safety
hazards, and degrade quality of life and, yet, no matter how much people complain, nothing ever seems to change. One study estimates that illegally parked government employees cost the city $46 million annually in unpaid parking fees.

Finally, you can do something about it. UncivilServants.org gives anyone with a digital camera and an Internet connection the ability to slap a virtual "ticket" on the windshield of a parking permit abuser. By joining in you help show the full, citywide scope of the problem; car by car, block by block, agency by agency. If the city won't deal with the problem, you can.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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