NYC Parking Ticket Settlement Program is a Great Option

Last Updated on December 31, 2017 by Lawrence Berezin

NYC parking ticket settlement program offers reduced fines

There was a terrific article publicizing a well-kept secret in the New York Times on January 1, 2009. NYC has a parking ticket settlement program, which was introduced in 2005. Don’t tell anyone.

It’s actually two programs. One is aimed at private passenger automobiles The other covers commercial vehicles. Check out the article. The link is at the bottom of the page.

We’re going to add a page on our website to explain how the program works.  Larry’s Blog is going to comment on the pros and cons, which will hopefully ignite a conversation among the parking ticket intelligentsia; or at least give you and me something to talk about.

I can hear you saying to yourself, why publicize a settlement program that may take customers away from your business?  Look at Amazon.com. They are the gold standard for Internet shopping.  Amazon provides you with a list of 3rd party sellers of the same merchandise and the asking price, right alongside their products.

Amazon gives its customers information to help them make an intelligent buying decision. What’s best for the customer, in the long run, is what’s best for Amazon. We’ll do the same. Some people may decide they don’t need our help. Others will. But, we’ll do our best to give our customers the information to make an educated choice.

“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore”

I’m still amazed at the emotional reaction you and I have to the sight of a parking ticket on the windshield. I don’t believe it’s the money. New Yorker’s are a tough, resilient lot. There isn’t an uproar against speeding tickets.

I have a theory. It’s a battle between two documents, the Constitution vs. Articles of Incorporation. NYC runs its parking ticket division like a business. Profit motive. Cash cow.

Send out an army of parking ticket enforcement officers, whose marching orders are to issue X number of tickets per hour. Their performance is measured by the number of tickets issued. What do you expect to happen? It gets nasty out there.

A spokesman for the settlement program talked about consistency in administering the fines. What about consistency in giving out the parking tickets?

It’s really a question of fundamental fairness. No one likes being treated unfairly, especially by the government, or its minions of parking ticket warriors.  One of the administrators of the settlement program was quoted in the NY Times article. I’ll paraphrase….Hey, if too many people find out about the settlement program and we start to lose money, we’ll drop the program.

Reasonable vs. Irrational

Does anyone know why there are so many no parking, no loading, no standing zones? Why doesn’t someone educate the people about the reason for all these parking rules and regulations? Is it a hodgepodge or a real plan?

Almost 10 million parking tickets were issued during the last fiscal year. More than $600M in revenue.  NYC needs the revenue. At what cost?

Commentary

[Larry’s Update: I am sad to report that the NYC parking ticket settlement program ended on January 31, 2012].