The Problem
Many government agencies and offices issue parking permits to
select employees. Typically placed on a vehicle's dashboard, permits
allow government employees to park their vehicles in designated areas.
The permits are not meant to allow government employees to block fire
hydrants, avoid paying parking meters, park on sidewalks or anywhere
else they want. Yet, this is exactly what parking permits are used for.
Only in the rarest of circumstances does the NYPD enforce against
illegally parked government employees.
Thanks to a lack of enforcement and an unchecked proliferation of
government-issued parking permits - legitimate and fraudulent - the
widespread abuse of parking permits has persisted for decades and has
grown significantly worse in recent years. By default, the ability to
abuse a parking permit has become a closely held entitlement, a perk of
holding certain government jobs.
Though it may not be explicit policy, the NYPD's traffic
enforcement division essentially operates under the premise that
citywide there is a "no hit" policy on vehicles with permits in the
window. Permit abusers talk of the NYPD extending a "courtesy" to
agencies to break the law; business owners and Business Improvement
Districts relay accounts of local enforcement officers repeatedly
refusing to give tickets to permit holders while ticketing non-permit
holders parked in their midst.
While Mayor Bloomberg has vowed to reduce the number of permits on
the street, the problem persists. Transportation Alternatives estimates
that over 150,000 drivers have access to free parking in the form of
valid government-issued parking permits (including the more than 30,000
NYPD "Self-Enforcement Zone" permits and 75,000 teacher permits).
Thousands more illicitly enjoy the same privileges by photocopying
permits, or by minting their own. In part because of this parking
privilege, census data clearly show that government workers drive to
work at two times the rate of private sector workers
The Price
Unfortunately, when
drivers with permits cannot find a legal spot, they often park in
illegal spaces at the curbside and important metered spaces, hurting
businesses that rely on parking turnover and sharply cutting into city
revenues that would be generated by meters. Even more egregiously, many
government workers endanger public safety by parking in front of fire
hydrants, on sidewalks, in crosswalks, in intersections, and in bus
stops.
In addition, illegal permit parking generates unnecessary traffic in several ways:
- Due to their parking privileges, many commuters who could be taking transit opt to drive instead.
- Because they super-saturate the curb, illegal parkers cause other vehicles to troll to find ever-elusive curbside space.
- When
vehicles cannot find a spot, they double park, compounding traffic
problems by blocking lanes and forcing erratic maneuvers.
- Illegal
permit parking degrades the quality of the air that New Yorkers
breathe, which contributes to increased risk of health problems like
asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
- Illegal permit parking erodes the trust of government and law enforcement in the communities that are overrun by vehicles.
Recommendations
While
the recently announced $400,000 Department of Transportation study of
parking and permit abuse in downtown Manhattan is a positive step
toward better understanding parking patterns, the Mayor need not wait
for another study to begin upholding the law and reducing the numbers
of permits in circulation. The Mayor and the NYPD should immediately
implement the following recommendations that would ameliorate the
problem overnight:
- Enforce the Law
- Take Inventory of Permits and Reduce the Total
- Educate Government Workers to Eliminate the "Culture of Entitlement"
- Update Parking Signage to Reflect the Communities' Needs
Uncivil Servants
Until that happens, we'll be building our own vigilante parking permit posse here at Uncivil.org...
