Last Updated on March 19, 2015 by Lawrence Berezin
The NYC DOT responded to my letter about the unconscionable 2-hour boot and tow
This is part-4 in our boot and tow miniseries. In our last episode (Take Action), Larry (that’s me) wrote letters to various stakeholders, including the NYC DOT. In this episode, we’ll share the rapid fire reply from the NYC DOT.
It has been our experience communicating with the NYC DOT about other parking conundrums that the men and women of the DOT are incredibly responsive. This time was no exception. We received a telephone call and email communication from an intelligent, interested, and full of vim and vigor representative. She did her homework prior to contacting us, listened intently to our plea, secured some information and documentation, and informed me about “next steps.”
- Preparing a detailed package to pass along to the law department for review
- Furnishing me with a document containing a peripheral reference to booting and towing
Here is a copy of my letter
Here is an FAQ about booting vehicles in NYC. Does #16 form the basis for booting and towing the same vehicle for the same parking violation within 2-hours?
Commentary
I’ll keep you posted. In the interim, please share your boot and tow stories. We care and want to share.
Hi Larry,
This morning on 42nd Street at 10th Avenue, I received a parking ticket ($115) at 7:15 a.m. for parking in a “No Standing” zone between 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. My car was also booted, with a notice telling me to pay the $185 fine within two hours of the time I received the notice, or my car would be towed. I have NO outstanding tickets, and it is my understanding that the City can only boot your car when you have over $350 in outstanding parking, red light camera, and bus lane violations. After going to the NYPD Tow Impound at Pier 76 and paying the $185 fine, I returned to my vehicle and within about 30 minutes a traffic officer came to remove the boot. I asked him why I was booted if I have no outstanding tickets, and he told me that you can be booted for ANY parking violation. I can’t find any update as to your inquiries with the DOT regarding the issue, so please let me know if you have received any additional information about whether this is legal. I cannot fight the parking ticket (because I was indeed illegally parked), but I am hoping to recover the booting fee of $185, I just don’t know how to go about doing it. Thank you!
Dear Mackenzie,
Good afternoon.
The boot and tow is a money-grubbing scam.
However, I imagine the Evil Empire and its minions would argue that
since all of NYC is a tow-away zone (no notice required) for a single parking
violation, booting instead of towing is a kinder more gentle punishment.
With that said, I never received a reply from the DOT law department, as promised.
The reply I received from the Evil Empire was gobbledygook. However, I didn’t receive
a reply from either councilperson (Rodriguez or Greenfield). That was disappointing.
The sad fact of the matter is the boot is being used in NYC for either immobilizing a
car with >$350 in outstanding parking tickets in judgment, and for a single parking violation.
Sorry for your pain.
Regards,
Larry
Larry,
I did find some insight – Section 4-08(a)(9) of Title 34 of the NYC DOT Traffic Rules provides that any illegally parked vehicle can be immobilized (i.e. booted) at any time on any public street. So that solves that. BUT, now the issue becomes, do I have to also pay the underlying parking ticket ($115)? I have been unsuccessful in my research on this question, so I’m wondering if you can provide any insight. This would essentially be like a traffic officer giving me two tickets for the same violation at the exact same time. I read on some other blogs that there is a “one hour” rule in which you cannot receive duplicate tickets, but I can’t find any official authority to that point. This seems like it is potentially unconstitutional. The City is essentially skirting around the statutorily-enumerated fine for this specific violation, and increasing it to more than double ($115 + $185). Your thoughts.
P.S. I am an attorney and am really interested (albeit frustrated) in this issue.
Hi Larry,
I have also received a boot on my car recently, like Mackenzie, for parking in a no parking zone in certain hours. When I realized that I may have parked in a no parking zone however, I left my apartment to move my car. When I got to my car, there was a boot that was just placed on my car and an officer that handed an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper that said that I needed to pay a $185 fine in 2 hours or my car would be towed. I did not receive a parking violation just a boot and that paper. I went to pay the fine to take off the boot and upon my return on my windshield was a parking violation. When parking officer came back to remove the boot, he took the original 8 1/2 x 11 paper, not a parking violation ticket, and changed the time on it to coincide with the time on the new parking violation. Now all the paperwork shows different times. The parking violation now shows the first time (originally showed a time later than the 8 1/2 x 11 sheet), the boot paperwork states, now, a minute after, though it is scribbled with the earlier time and the redemption receipt that shows when the boot was placed, aka boot time, at a different time than the original paperwork even once it was altered. I guess my question is that can I get a boot without a parking violation? Are any of these action legal, like altering the paperwork and placing the boot in the first place? And with all these discrepancies, in your opinion, can I fight this ticket? I would have moved the car had it not been for that boot before the ticket would have been written. Thank you
Dear Bryan,
I am sad to report (after dedicating 6 years, 7-days-per-week, with two months off for my heart attack) that I will no longer be answering questions on Larry’s Blog. You’ll find a treasure trove of information in the 746 Blog Posts and growing, F.A.Q.’s, and comments.
If you need help, you may wish to check out of service offerings. Here’s a link.
https://newyorkparkingticket.com/passenger-vehicles/
Dear MacKenzie,
Great to hear back from you.
There is a custom inside the Evil Empire to dismiss a second parking ticket if issued within 3-hours of the first parking ticket for the same violation while a car is parked in the same space. I’ve never heard of someone asserting that a boot fine should be dismissed for essentially the same rationale. Very interesting argument.
As far as the 3-hour dismissal custom, I’ve never unearthed a law or rule that provides the legal basis for this action. I have a feeling it may simply be an interoffice memo from Darth Vader.
The “boot and tow” cannot be justified. There is no law or rule permitting this unconscionable practice.
The underlying basis for a tow is to remove a vehicle for safety reasons. Booting a car immobilizes the chariot. If safety was a concern then why make it impossible to move? Follow that bad behavior with a tow 2-hours later is triple dipping….The parking fine, boot fine, and tow fine.
I was sorry to learn that my blogging and letters to Rodriguez and Greenfield didn’t trigger any action (or reaction). Especially since Rodriguez reached out to me for my help with his alternate side parking bill. I blogged about it and appeared at the city council hearing and spoke in support of it…Oh well.
Best,
Larry