Free Perking for ex-MTA Bigwigs

Updated 7:57 AM EST, Wed, Jan 7, 2009

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Former MTA board member Alan Friedberg has defied an MTA order and still uses an official parking placard to park a Jaguar wherever he likes.

Here's a novel way to close the MTA's $1.3 billion budget gap:  start charging former board members for their parking placards.

The MTA ordered 13 former board members to return their police-issued parking permits, after the Daily News exposed how the fat cats had carte blanche to park wherever they wanted in the city long after their "service" to the MTA had ended.

But at least one former honcho can't kick the habit.  Alan Friedberg has thumbed his nose at an MTA order to return the parking permit, using it to park his $76,000 Jaguar on his way to a Broadway show, the News reported today.   

"This is self-entitlement at its worst," Transportation Alternatives spokesman Wiley Norvell told the News. "The free ride for longtime placard holders like Mr. Friedberg needs to end. Traffic and parking woes take a big enough toll without free riders adding to the problem."

The MTA said it will take no action against Friedberg and that the parking permit will expire at the end of the month.  For his part, Friedberg told the News that he had "no particular comment" about the placard and that he was on his way to visit a relative in New Jersey when he stopped in midtown to observe a demonstration.

First Published: Jan 7, 2009 7:50 AM EST

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