Updated 06/22/2011 07:07 PM
City Lawmakers Counter Mayoral Objections To More Lenient Parking Rules
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The City Council's Transportation Committee held a hearing Wednesday morning to examine seven bills designed to increase fairness in how the city regulates parking and tickets drivers.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg only supports one proposal, which would regulate parking ticket late fees.
The city makes about $600 million in parking violation revenues.
One bill would suspend alternate side of the street parking near film shoots.
The mayor's Department of Finance opposes that measure, saying it delegates parking authority to production companies and would be difficult to monitor.
However, Rolf Carle, a resident in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, said the bill would make his living near a movie shoot would become a little more livable.
"You wake up in the morning, you try to get out your door, you're tripping over wires.... You feel like the production company has invaded your space," said Carle. "It would just alleviate a little bit of the negative impact."
Another bill aims to crack down on special parking placard abuse by requiring all of the more than 100,000 placards issued by the city to have barcodes, to avoid fraud.
At the hearing, Manhattan Councilman Daniel Garodnick held up a fake placard and noted, "It proudly bears the seal of the Republic of Bulgaria."
In response, a New York City Police Department official admitted there is fraud, but said the bill needs work.
"If there is a placard that's issued by the state police, it will be legitimate. It will not have a bar code," said Susan Petito of NYPD Intergovernmental Affairs.
Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca introduced another bill creating a pilot program to require ticket agents take pictures of violations as evidence, saying "The city is judge and jury."
"It sets up an expectation that unless there is a photo documenting a violations, it cannot be proven based on the sworn statement of the employee," countered Petito.
In addition, the Bloomberg administration argued forcing ticketing agents to take pictures of evidence will unnecesarily put employees in danger.
Another proposed bill would give residents who are moving the option of getting a one-day permit with special parking privileges.
The Departments of Finance and Transportation and the NYPD objected to almost all the bills discussed Wednesday, often on the grounds they would create added expenses and require more resources.
"I cannot believe this is an issue of 'can't.' It is an issue of 'won't,'" said Vacca.
The transportation committee chair said he wants the fight for these bills to turn into negotiations with the city administration.
Wednesday's hearing is likely be the only one to examine the measures, with a vote possibly coming up in the next few months.