Last Updated on December 22, 2017 by Lawrence Berezin
Joe’s NYC parking tickets journey (from yesterdays blog post)
Hoping not to win any NYC parking tickets, Joe hops into his fire engine red sports car, backs out of his driveway, and heads off to pick up his 102-year-old mother. As he approaches Sadie’s apartment building, Joe spots a vacant parking space in a No Standing zone. Sadie is curbside, waiting for Joe to pull into the parking space. 1. [Joe’s gets out of his car, and helps Sadie into the passenger seat]. This entire process took less than 2 minutes.
Joe takes Sadie to the bus stop near her home. Sadie is headed to Brooklyn to visit her older sister, Ethel. Ethel is 107 years old. Joe sees a bus stop sign near the end of a very long block and pulls to the curb about 100 feet from the sign. Joe thinks to himself, ” How lucky am I! 2. [There are no parking signs between the bus stop sign in the direction of my car and the end of the block. I’m safe.]”
Sadie exits Joe’s car and traipsed off to the bus stop shelter at the other end of the block. Joe heads to the garment district to pick up a package for his business. Joe’s luck continues as he spots a vacant parking space near his destination. Joe gets out of his car, puts money in the parking meter, and does the Foxtrot into the building. 3. [“Wow, that was easy,” Joe, muses.]
Joe is stuck waiting for his package, and the time on the meter is about to expire. “No problem,” Joe thinks to himself. “I’ll just pour some more money in the meter.” And, with that Joe runs down the stairs, out the door, and 4. [feeds the hungry meter].
Joe arrives at Elizabeth’s doctor’s office in Queens. There are no vacant parking spaces anywhere to be found. Joe cruises the boulevard for 15 minutes, and still, no space opens up at the curb.
Off in the distance, at the other end of the block, Joe spots Elizabeth waiting curbside. Joe heads off to pick up his wife, and 5. [double parks] since there are no vacant parking spaces at the curb. Quicker than an NYC minute, Elizabeth opens the car door, gets into the front passenger seat, and Joe re-enters the traffic lane, heading home.”
Larry, the NYC parking ticket warrior, springs into action
Bah, humbug…I’d issue Joe the following parking tickets:
1. No Standing parking ticket – Joe is parking ticket toast the moment he exits his car to help Sadie. Up until then, everything was o.k. Ca-ching.
2. Bus stop parking ticket – Joe obviously doesn’t read “Larry’s Blog,” and therefore doesn’t know a bus stop zone extends from the bus stop sign in the direction of the arrow(s) at the bottom of the sign UNTIL, the next parking sign, or the end of the block. Knowledge is power, Joe. Ca-ching (transparent plug. My bad).
3. Parking in the “Garment District” is restricted to trucks and vans bearing commercial plates – Joe, gotcha again. C’mon man!
4. Feeding the meter – You’re permitted to park at a meter for one term, and one term only (unlike Mayor January). This is becoming an expensive journey for our pal Joe.
5. Double parking-I am certainly, without one moment’s hesitation, going to lay a parking ticket on Joe’s windshield for double parking. The big but is, Joe may be able to beat this NYC parking ticket. There are two schools of thought in our parking ticket judiciary about the propriety of double parking. Some judges (and me) ascribe to the position that double parking is perfectly legal while dropping off or picking up a passenger (in less than 2 minutes). Joe’s outcome will depend upon the luck of the judge draw.
Commentary
Man, this parking ticket warrior stuff is easier than I thought when someone parks without knowing the rules of engagement.
Do you agree or disagree with Larry, the parking ticket warrior?
Park safely.
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