On my January 12 blog post, I detailed about how a few drivers working at the American Museum (the rear side on Bridge Street) were able to get away with free parking by illegally parking their passenger vehicles in the metered commercial vehicle parking zone. Since then I have made three requests through 311, NYC's complaint hotline, and gotten not only the runaround on this condition but am convinced that NYPD and the City of New York have no interest in following though a complaint by a citizen, particularly NYPD's ignorance of this problem. In fact, the same condition was reported three times, the first two they claim the condition was corrected (assuming by issuance of a summons or towing the vehicle), while the third instance, they observed the vehicle and found no evidence of the violation. All three times, the vehicle was the same Honda Odyssey, with the same passenger plate number, with the same handmade paper sign, parked on the same side of the same street (Bridge Street), and parked within the same time frame where commercial vehicles are only allowed to park there on weekdays between the hours of 7 AM to 7 PM. Unless the vehicle has a valid permit issued by any Federal, State or City agency, or it's a commercial vehicle with a valid parking meter receipt, the vehicle is illegally parked, even with the paper sign.
On January 26th, I reported to 311 about the scofflaw, again.
NYPD's response
February 2 - note that NYPD found "no evidence of the violation at this time"
That means they did observe the vehicle - same plate #, same location, same time of day, same handmade SEE OFFICER AT THE BOOTH, THANK YOU, and determined that the vehicle was legally parked in a commercial metered parking zone. Last week, according to NYPD they took "action" to correct the condition and on Feb. 2, they did nothing. 
February 3rd - - this time they allegedly "took action" - - again same vehicle, same passenger plate #, same commercial vehicle metered zone, same time of weekday and same SEE OFFICER AT THE BOOTH, THANK YOU handmade sign.
That afternoon, I received a call from a Lieutenant from the NYPD 1st Precinct (I was at work and could not write down his name because he hung up on me after threatening me with arrest if I continue to report this condition to 311. But it is clear that the NYPD did nothing to this vehicle - - if they did on 1/26 then the vehicle would have never parked on Bridge Street during my observations on 2/2 and 2/3. The NYPD is really that ignorant in taking a handmade sign, not produced by any Federal, State or City agency, as a valid "permit" to park there. This and other vehicles belong to workers at the guard booth behind the National Museum of the American Indian. These are their personal vehicles and they should obey the parking laws like anyone else, find a parking garage or park legally. Other vehicles in the area do display valid permits, not handmade signs and it is selfish to take a parking space which is reserved for commercial vehicles. If it was my vehicle, then it would have been towed in 2 seconds.
Even after the NYPD call, I saw another vehicle last night (Friday 2/6) at 6 PM with the same SEE OFFICER AT THE BOOTH, THANK YOU. Sorry for the grainy photo. This is why the NYPD should stop lying and offer a valid explanation as to why they can park there - - not making lame excuses and false responses to my 311 complaints about what they already know are illegally parked vehicles on Bridge Street, getting a free pass.
No comments:
Post a Comment