Last Updated on January 31, 2018 by Lawrence Berezin
Parking tickets Christmas celebrated in January
Warriors issued a bunch of parking tickets because muni-meters were not programmed to accept your money on days street cleaning rules were suspended due to snow.
In other words, you parked in a location that morphed from an illegal to a legal parking space because street cleaning rules were suspended for snow, but you were unable to pay for the time because the muni-meters didn’t take your money and issue a receipt, but you still got a parking ticket due to this programming glitch.
Yikes!
Snow day parking tickets
The Muni-Meters are programmed to reject payments when alternate side parking is in effect — even when that restriction has been lifted due to snow. On such days, a person can park in a metered space, be unable to pay the Muni-Meters and still receive a ticket.
“I had to bring this to light,” said City Councilman Chaim Deutsch (D-Brooklyn). “I thought traffic agents would know not to issue tickets during those times.”
Here’s an example of an addendum (green arrow) to the street cleaning sign on a gotcha pole that attempts to notify drivers that muni-meters don’t work during street cleaning hours. What do you think?
“We acknowledged that some tickets may have been wrongly issued, but there is no indication that this is a major problem,” said Finance Department spokeswoman Sonia Alleyne.
The city hasn’t figured out how many people may have been unfairly ticketed. The city suspended alternate-side parking 11 times due to snow from Jan. 2 to Jan. 18.
It’s difficult to estimate the number of tickets issued during that 90-minute time period on those specific days and areas.
Were you a victim?
The city suspended alternate-side parking 11 times due to snow from Jan. 2 to Jan. 18. Were you one of those drivers who parked legally, tried to pay for the time, but the muni-meter wouldn’t take your money? If you got a parking ticket between January 2, 2018, to January 18, 2018, because of this glitch, the DOT will give you a letter that will “toss the violation pending before the Evil Empire.”
Commentary
[alert type=”info” icon-size=”hide-icon”]Problem is, I don’t understand how this process works. Do you?[/alert]
- Does the DOT letter automatically dismiss the parking ticket?
- Do you have to request a hearing and submit the DOT letter as evidence to the Evil Empire?
- What if you paid the parking ticket already? Will the Evil Empire refund your money?
- What if you fought the ticket without the letter and lost? Can you appeal?
- How do you secure the magic DOT letter?
Has anyone tried to get their parking fine back? If so, please enlighten us on how this works?
Did you hear about last year’s shocking blunder by the Evil Empire? Check it out here.
[Source for article: NY Daily News]
[Larry’s comment: Did you know about this grace period?]
Temporary Suspensions
Alternate side parking regulations may be suspended temporarily in parts of the City in order to post new regulations. When the Department of Sanitation must change street cleaning rules, regulations are suspended temporarily to allow DOT to update signs in the affected area. These suspensions do not affect parking rules other than alternate side parking rules.
When the new signage has been posted, the Department of Sanitation provides a weeklong grace period during which its crews will clean streets according to the newly posted schedule, but will not issue summonses. At the conclusion of the grace period, enforcement of the new rules begins.
[Source: DOT website]
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