Thanks for sending these along Richard. I posted a few myself this morning, though they were curbside violations, not the more serious sidewalk parking you encountered:

http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/3575

Weingarten doesn’t know what she is talking about.

Fine role models for our children.

These teachers should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

There is really no defending this. This school is within very easy walking distance of the 1, which has pretty frequent service, and the B & C, as JF noted. If the rules were enforced, I’m sure that many of the teachers and other employees who drive in would easily manage on mass transit.

I’m wondering if any of the teachers who read this — assuming there are a few — have thoughts about how to constructively change the thinking at individual schools (rather than at the union, which will take a ton of work, though it’s important) so that principals and teachers are better citizens when it comes to this kind of illegal behavior.

I agree; those cars should be ticketed and towed… My car would be if I decided to park on a sidewalk.
Look at those cars though… With the exception of that M-B SUV, it is Hyundi, Kia… econo-box galore. Those teachers are not getting rich teaching kids in Harlem…

Lee, we DON’T think that cops and firemen should automatically have designated parking spots. And we don’t think that NYC teachers should be living in the suburbs when there are plenty of good places in the city to live.

Where do you suggest they park then? Most arent paid enough to cover hourly/day charges at a parking lot and they dont have any regular parking in the area. Guess teachers should be expected to walk 30 min to work everyday as well as stay til 6 PM and still not get paid. You start ticketing teachers for coming to work to babysit your kids that you send to us with no manners or home training so you can go to work then you wont have anyone qualified to try to educate the children. I walk by an area where the Firemen park their cars on the sidewalk and block the whole sidewalk and even the handicap area on the curb. Let’s comment on that.

You start ticketing teachers for coming to work to babysit your kids that you send to us with no manners or home training so you can go to work then you wont have anyone qualified to try to educate the children.

Any teacher who thinks that about city kids is not qualified to educate any children.

No doubt, there are New Yorkers with an inappropriate attitude of entitlement towards government services. These are the kind of people who litter, don’t put the necessary energy into raising their kids, park in bus stops, don’t recycle, etc., and expect government workers to deal with the messes they create. I condemn these behaviors and can appreciate how they must frustrate many dedicated government workers.

But it only makes things worse when government workers conspire together to give each other “courtesy” in the form of abusive and illegal parking privileges that materially detract from the safety and convenience of the general public.

For example, with the completion of the new bike path on Columbus Ave., my son and I have modified our route to school so that we travel west on 83rd Street from Columbus. That block has both a fire house and a post office. Every weekday morning, the roadway is narrowed to about ten feet because of all of the double parking by vehicles with bogus post office and firefighters union placards. There are always pedestrians walking in the street because the sidewalks are blocked by similarly-placarded vehicles. I’m just trying to get my son to school in a safe and healthy way and a major obstacle is the illegal parking by the post office and firehouse employers which has the tacit approval of NYPD. NYPD has basically given away the roadway which belongs to the public, for the private use of fellow gov’t employees. So its not too hard to see how this will lead some people to throw that piece of trash on the ground, rationalizing that public employees should work for what they get. It really is a vicious cycle.

The other route we used to take west, West 77th St. has a similar problem caused by teachers. There are large portions of curbside space set aside for DoE placrad parking, and a small section right in front of P.S. 87 intended as a no parking-drop off zone for parents. But the teachers park in the drop-off zone, so the parents park and unload their kids in the bike lane, creating a hazard and a serious inconvenience for everyone else. I don’t accept that as a legitimate price for me and my son to pay in order to keep P.S. 87 running.