What to Know
- On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a crackdown on those who abuse the parking placard system
- There are more than 125,000 parking placards across New York City
- The crackdown includes introducing a new windshield decal that cannot be transferred from vehicle to vehicle
The Big Apple is taking on those who abuse city-issued parking placards.
There are more than 125,000 parking placards across New York City. However, on Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a crackdown on those who abuse the placard system.
Driving school instructor Willie Roland believes it's common knowledge — get a parking placard and park "wherever" you want.
"They don't get tickets, they should," he said about placard holders.
De Blasio said when he took office, placard abuse had long been a problem.
"It droves people crazy when they see city employees violating the public trust," de Blasio said.
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Holding up the new windshield stickers that cannot be transferred from vehicle to vehicle, de Blasio said drivers should get ready to bid farewell to placards — those dashboard displays that allow city workers to park anywhere and that caused enforcement headaches for decades.
"These alone are gonna start to change things," de Blasio said of the new decals.
The 125,000 placards across the city are a 25 percent increase since de Blasio took office, so he annouced a new crackdown comprised of a three-strike rule —use the the placard improperly three times and it is revoked.
The crackdown also includes raising the fines from $50 to $250, as well as creating a database by 2021 where drivers won't need placards anymore.
However, critics are skeptical.
"Enforcement is key," David Meyer, of Streetblog, said. "If they're not serious about addressing the problem they can create the most modern technologically advanced system and people will still use their placards to park wherever they want."
Meyer also said traffic agents remain reluctant to write tickets for a city worker — especially if they've draped a marked vest in the windshield.
"This could be a cop or an officer's wife or grandson," he said.
The agencies with the most placards are: the DOT, which handed out 50,000 placards, many to disabled drivers; the NYPD with 44,000; and, the DOE with 31,500.