Last Updated on November 30, 2014 by Lawrence Berezin
There is a parking ticket trap in Brooklyn
We received a call from Mary, a wonderful friend of New York Parking Ticket, advising us there may be a parking ticket trap lurking to snare unsuspecting members of the driving public. The trap was disguised as a parking sign prohibiting standing except trucks loading and unloading between 8A- 6P in front of Casa Marble & Granite Co., 25 5th Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Mary was alerted to the potential trap by a NYC parking ticket peering out from under her wiper, along with about ten other parking tickets on ten other cars parked on the block. Yikes!
Here’s an image of the crime scene.
The fake parking sign investigation
The reasons why Mary thought the parking sign may be phony baloney was because:
- There were no arrows on the bottom of the sign
- There was red paint under the days in effect (Mon-Fri)
I took a gander at the parking sign on Google Maps. My initial impression, based upon years of looking critically had NYC parking signs, was that it was a fake sign because of the red paint under the “days in effect.” If this was a real, temporary sign, there wouldn’t be red paint hiding the words underneath. There would be the identity of the authorized agency posting the sign and the nature of the sign.
However, if there are no arrows on a parking sign it means that the parking rules displayed on the sign regulate the parking spaces in both directions until the next sign, or the end of he block. The absence of an arrow(s) does not a fake sign make.
The next step in our investigation was to check whether there was an official no standing, except trucks loading and unloading sign, on the North side of the street, in front of 25 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY on the official DOT parking regulations app or DOT parking regulations map.
The image below is the results of our search of the DOT parking regulations app…
The no standing, except trucks loading and unloading, sign was not listed in the data base.
The DOT parking regulations map did not display parking signs in the area of 5th Street, Brooklyn.
Our investigation led me to conclude the sign was a fake. Beware!
Is Mary going to fight her parking ticket?
Absolutely.
Her defenses are:
- The parking sign was not an official, authorized parking sign
- A required element was misdescribed (the place of occurrence)
The warrior issuing the parking ticket gave Mary the gift of dismissal by misdescribing the place of occurrence. We are able to prove the defect because the warrior entered the last 4 digits of the telephone number as the street address. The red arrow is pointing out the street number (8510) entered on the parking ticket by the warrior.
Commentary
Kudos to Mary for taking her valuable time to inspect the parking ticket and follow her instincts that something was rotten on 5th Street in Brooklyn. Never, ever pay a NYC parking ticket “no questions asked.”
Why do you think there is a phony, baloney no standing trucks loading and unloading sign in front of Casa Marble? My gut cries out that the driving public was blocking the two driveways in front of the building, and causing havoc for the business. Parking spaces are gold, and my sense is that people were parking their chariots and ignoring the driveways.
Do two wrongs make a right in Parking Ticket Land? In my humble opinion, blocking active driveways is bad behavior, especially when a business depends upon their driveways to make a living. Spotting a vacant parking space doesn’t mean chariots of all sizes will fit. If yours doesn’t, amscray.
On the other hand, a fake parking sign should not appear in front of a business to protect it’s territory at a significant expense to the parking public.
The battle rages on. Don’t get caught by a stray parking ticket.
Who’s right in this fight?
I have a question. I have a business across the street from me with signs that show up on the dotmap you linked to, but not the regulations app. I happened to be chatting with the owner, and he mentioned he choose the time (6 AM to 7PM). I thought this was strange because I thought there were regulations in place to protect truck noise prior to 7 AM.
The sign doesn’t appear to say “dept of transportation” on it but it does in fact appear on the map.
How do these signs even show up in the first place? Can anyone request one?
Dear Brad,
Happy 2015!
I am sorry to say that I’m a bit confused by your series of questions.
Parking signs are required to be listed on the DOT website. Since DOT is responsible for parking signs, all they have to do is make sure the parking sign installation department talks to IT.
Parking signs that don’t display the NYC agency authorizing the parking sign are not valid, legitimate, parking signs. Period.
Anyone can purchase a parking sign from a parking sign store…How an unauthorized parking sign found its way to one of the “tools” is beyond the “kin” of my limited expertise.
Best,
Larry