Chivalry, New York City Parking Ticket Style, is not Dead

Last Updated on January 19, 2018 by Lawrence Berezin

Read this if you got a parking ticket while pregnant

NYC Council Member David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn), a terrific friend of the NYC driving public, has added another group to his constituency…women with difficult pregnancies. Greenfield is introducing a bill this week that would allow women with difficult pregnancies to park in No-Parking and No-Standing zones without getting a parking ticket. A special placard would be issued with the proper medical documentation.

“New York is a tough place to get around,” he told the New York Daily News.  If you have a difficult pregnancy, it’s even tougher. This should make it a bit easier.”

Mixed reactions

Some women cheered the news as a welcome salve for the lumbering woes of late pregnancy. “Being eight or nine months pregnant is hard anyway, so this is a good benefit,” said 29-year-old expectant mom Asma Lat of the Upper West Side.

But critics warn that the bill could further entangle the city’s mess of parking laws – or even give to discrimination against expectant mothers. “Parking privileges for women experiencing difficult pregnancies is a thoughtful idea,” said Sonia Ossorio of the National Organization for Women in New York City. “But I don’t want to see a short-term privilege like easy parking … create an environment that further stigmatized pregnancy.”

Workplace discrimination against pregnant women is on the rise already, Ossorio said, and if women say they need special parking spots, it could feed the perception that they’re weak. “A lot of bosses just don’t think you’ll be as dedicated, that you’re as nimble or fast, mentally or physically,” Ossorio said. “You see women’s career paths completely take a wrong turn as a result of getting pregnant and becoming mothers.”

Paul Steely White of the transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives said the city already has too many special parking permits – and too many people abusing the system with fake placards and scams. “This would create another group entitled to park on curbs where there is no room already,” White said. “Until we have effective enforcement, additional carve-outs are only going to create more problems.

What do you think?

[Source for this article is the New York Daily News via DNAinfo via a heads up from a great friend, Josh Alpert, Green Earth Pest Control]

[Source: Feature image]