5 NYC Parking Ticket Laws Waiting in the Green Room

Last Updated on August 15, 2016 by Lawrence Berezin

NYC Parking Ticket Laws waiting to be passed by the City Council

Do you remember guests on the Tonight Show waiting in the green room to be called on stage by Johnny? Time running out,  followed by Johnny’s comment that Joe Comedian will be rescheduled. Sadly, many of the Joe Comedians were never rescheduled. Painful, right?

There is also a green room for NYC parking ticket laws, waiting to be enacted into NYC parking law. Sadly, many of these excellent bills are rescheduled, never to be heard from again. Painful, right?

Let’s meet the NYC Parking Laws waiting in the green room.

1. Illegible parking signs

The proposed law states:

Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-175.5 to read as follows:

§ 19-175.5 Illegible parking signs. a. Notwithstanding any rule or regulation to the contrary, when a notice of violation is issued to an owner of a vehicle for failure to observe a parking sign that is not sufficiently legible to an ordinarily observant person at the time and place of the alleged violation, such illegibility constitutes an affirmative defense to the notice of violation.

b. The affirmative defense of illegibility is provable through photographic or other suitable evidence as determined by the hearing officer, hearing examiner, or other appropriate adjudicatory authority.

                     § 2. This local law takes effect immediately.

Here’s a link to the proposed  legibility law

I have asserted the defense of illegible parking signs, usually related to stickers, graffiti or other markings making the signs unreadable. The proposed law creates  a standard to apply in judging the illegibility of a parking sign that includes that judging illegibility is at the time and place of the alleged violation.

Here’s the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of “legible:”

Full Definition of legible

Does this mean that a torrential downpour making the sign unreadable is a winning defense?

2. Increasing penalties for repeated violations of unlawful parking on a sidewalk or crosswalk

The proposed law states:

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. The commissioner of finance shall implement a schedule of graduated penalties for repeat violations of rules promulgated pursuant to sections 1200 to 1203 of the vehicle and traffic law prohibiting stopping, standing or parking a vehicle on a sidewalk or crosswalk. The schedule of graduated penalties shall include double penalties for a second violation within one year of any first violation and triple penalties for a third violation within two years of the first violation.

§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately upon enactment.

Here’s a link to the proposed law

Yikes! Hope this one never sees the light of day. How about you?

3. Restricting the size of vehicles permitted to park in residential neighborhoods

The proposed law states:

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Subchapter 2 of chapter 1 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-171.3 to read as follows:

§ 19-171.3 Parking restrictions for oversize motor vehicles in residential districts.  Notwithstanding any provision of the New York city charter or the code, parking rules shall not be suspended with respect to the parking, standing or stopping of any motor vehicle that exceeds forty-eight feet in length, eight feet in width and thirteen feet and six inches in height on any part of a street that is within seventy-five feet of any residential premises or building that contains residential units.

§ 2. This local law takes effect 90 days after it becomes law.

Here’s a link to the proposed NYC parking law.

I guess size matters when it comes to parking vehicles in residential neighborhoods. Do you agree?

4. Suspending parking meters for Black Friday

The proposed law states:

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Subchapter 2 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-163.3 to read as follows:

§ 19-163.3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person parking a vehicle at a parking meter or a muni-meter is required to activate such meter on the Friday after Thanksgiving. For the purposes of this section, the term “muni-meter” means an electronic parking meter that dispenses timed receipts that must be displayed in a conspicuous place on a vehicle’s dashboard.

§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.

Here’s a link to the fairy tale

Do you think the Evil Empire is willing to give up the gazillion dollars it earns from parking violations issued on Good Friday? I don’t think so.

5. Permissible parking at non-functioning fire hydrants

The proposed law states:

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1.  Chapter 1 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-167.4 to read as follows:

§ 19-167.4 Parking at non-functioning fire hydrants. Notwithstanding any other law or rule, a person shall be allowed to park at a non-functioning fire hydrant, so long as no other parking, or standing, or stopping rules are violated.

§ 2.  Chapter 3 of title 24 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 24-307.1 to read as follows:

§ 24-307.1 Non-functioning fire hydrants.  The commissioner shall cause all non-functioning fire hydrants within the city to be painted green within sixty days of the department learning that such fire hydrant is not functioning.

§ 3.  Section 24-308 of chapter 3 of title 24 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:

§ 24-308 Opening, painting, tampering with or operating valves or fire hydrants.  a. It shall be unlawful for any person other than an employee of the department of environmental protection, or the fire department to open, paint, use, operate, or tamper with a fire hydrant or high pressure hydrant, in the city, or a valve in the water supply system of the city, without a permit in writing from the commissioner of environmental protection.  It shall also be unlawful to leave such a hydrant open for a longer period than shall be limited in the permit, or use water for other purposes than shall have been authorized by such commissioner.

b.  The  commissioner  may  grant  a permit to a person, other than an employee of the department of environmental protection or  of  the  fire department,  to  open, paint, use  or operate a fire hydrant in the city, upon such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the  commissioner  and  upon payment by such permittee of a fee of five dollars for each day for  which such permit is granted. A permittee shall be required, at the time of making application for such permit, to pay to the department a sum sufficient to cover the total fee for the entire period for which such permit is granted. If the work for which such permit is granted is completed on a date prior to the termination date of such permit, the permittee shall be entitled to a refund of the fee paid for each day subsequent to such completion date. The commissioner may grant a permit pursuant to this section to any agency or to a non-profit organization for the purpose of providing street showers for children, without payment of the fee required by this subdivision.

c.  The  commissioner shall have the power, subject to the approval of the board of estimate, to increase the amount of the fee  prescribed  by subdivision  b  hereof, to an amount sufficient to cover the cost to the city of the supervision and inspection of hydrants  in  connection  with the granting of permits under the provisions of this section.

d.  Every  permittee  shall  open, paint, use  or  operate  such  hydrant in  accordance with such rules and regulations and such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the commissioner for the purpose  of  protecting and  maintaining  the  hydrant  in  a continuously accessible and usable condition. A permit granted pursuant to this section may be revoked by the commissioner for the failure by the permittee to comply with any of the terms and conditions of the permit or any applicable provision of law.

e.  The  opening,  painting, use  or operation of a fire hydrant, under a permit  issued pursuant to this section, shall be subject to  inspection  by  an employee  or  employees  of  the department of environmental protection, duly appointed in accordance with the provisions of  the  civil  service  law,  and  assigned  to such duties in accordance with the provisions of  section eleven hundred three of the charter.  The compensation of any such employee or employees shall be paid by the city in accordance with the provisions of section one hundred twenty-three of the charter.  No permittee shall be required to pay the compensation of any employee, of any part thereof, as a condition to the granting of a permit for the opening, painting, use or operation of a fire hydrant.

§ 4.  This local law shall take effect 90 days after its enactment into law.

Wowzers…What do you think about this proposed law?

Here’s a link to the proposed law

In the meantime, while you’re waiting for this proposed law to become the law of Parking Ticket Land, don’t forget that it is still illegal to park within 15 feet of a non-functioning fire hydrant.

Commentary

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

Park safely and don’t hold your breath.