New York – Parking Woes Plague Brooklyn Resident

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    Reifer's car being ticketdBrooklyn, NY – It was bad enough that Ben Reifer of Boro Park hasn’t had his street plowed since Sunday’s blizzard. But things went from bad to worse when he looked out of his window on the corner of 58th Street and 15th Avenue and saw a police officer ticket his car after getting into an argument with the owner of another vehicle that had been similarly ticketed.

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    Like many Brooklyn residents, Reifer was faced with a dilemma. Where do you park your car when not a single space on the entire block is available because your street hasn’t been plowed? Reifer found a spot on 15th Avenue at the corner of 58th Street. While his car extended halfway into the crosswalk it wasn’t obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Unplowed 58th Street was completely impassable from 14th Avenue all the way to 16th Avenue and the crosswalk could not be used by pedestrians as it was full of snow dumped there by the plows that had cleaned up 15th Avenue.

    Looking out his window, Reifer saw the police officer ticket another car on the corner. The owner of that vehicle argued with the police officer, took out a camera and began taking pictures of the officer.

    “The police officer clearly got upset,” Reifer told VIN News. “He took out his own camera and started taking pictures of the car. I think he got angry and then he wrote out a ticket for my car as well.”

    Upset by the situation, Reifer went down to the 66th Precinct to protest the $115 ticket he received. He was told by the desk sergeant that City Hall had been very specific in their instructions: a zero tolerance policy was to be enforced and any car blocking traffic was to be ticketed. Reifer tried to explain that his car was in no way obstructing traffic but his words fell on deaf ears.

    “There are literally no parking places. At the end of the day this should be about common sense. You didn’t clean the streets properly and now you are giving tickets?”


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    34 Comments
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    menash
    menash
    13 years ago

    Call d grienfeld maybe he will make sure that it shouldn’t happen next year

    Neias
    Neias
    13 years ago

    one word, BLOOMBERG

    shvig
    shvig
    13 years ago

    I thought I was the only one. I got a ticket while stuck in some snow in a no parking zone.

    shvig
    shvig
    13 years ago

    I thought I was the only one. I got a ticket while stuck in some snow in a no parking zone.

    13 years ago

    Why is he allowed to say that due to budget constraints or lack of money the maor could not plow. I have my fiscal problems so I couldn’t shovel. You didn’t plow in 5 days. Why do I have to plow after three hours. Your monster garbage trucks can be stuck and blocking traffic but my itty bitty car gets a ticket. Mr. Mayor –you are just great. You should team up with Jimmy Carter. You would make a great vauderville team

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    They should be ticketing and towing ALL the cars parked illegally. Its hard enough for the snowplows, pedestrians and emergency vehciles without having to worry about illegally parked cars. If you don’t have a garage or driveway, then look for a legal parking space. The law says no parking in a crosswalk, period. It does not say no parking unless the owner is an erhliche yid in a snowstorm who decides for herself that her illegally parked car won’t obstruct anyone.

    13 years ago

    After hearing Bloombergs comments tonight defending the sanitation commissionor and then blaming emergency personel for their poor response is totally absurd . I really think the first hearings should beis how to get rid of this dumd mayor

    13 years ago

    You think this is bad. Right now at 12:00 am 13 and 40’s there are about 15 nypd tow trucks ready to tow away “illeagally ” parked cars from their stuck spots. Is it normal that three days after the storm streets weren’t plowed.
    chutzpa arrogant are the 2 nicer words I can think of calling this Mayor. Did you hear that the “garbage” commissioner he gives a vote of confidence but says to look into emergency services response. Mr Greenfeld I think you should investigate the mayor he i toatally insane..

    Boochie
    Boochie
    13 years ago

    I knew the tickets would start coming

    IpchaMistabre
    IpchaMistabre
    13 years ago

    This is to what our goverment has boiled down to: here to suck your money and freedom out, but when you need them to do what they’re obligated to do, they’re nowhere to be found. And you still believe that this is a free country.

    lostsnowplow
    lostsnowplow
    13 years ago

    end of month quotas guys. cmon tell me you havent noticed a pattern. notice it was a cop not traffic cop. this happens every month towards the end and sometimes beginning of next month (maybe they have a few days grace period). at these times, cops hang around gas stations and all kinds of interesting locations looking for some action so they can fill their quota.

    soulrose
    soulrose
    13 years ago

    I am the owner of the other car & I got 3 tickets 1 for sidewalk 1 for crosswalk & 1 for blocking pedestrian witch I did not cuz I soveld that spot all by myself & when the cop stared giving a ticket 2 the 2 car some1 came over 2 me & told me take a video so I did

    Yisroel
    Yisroel
    13 years ago

    Most people in NYC want to obey the laws. However, the problem is that due to the overcrowding conditions in most areas of this city it is virtually impossible to obey many laws, especially the parking laws. It is so difficult to find parking in many areas of Brooklyn. Therefore, it is very difficult to avoid getting parking tickets at one time or another. It is clear that the city doesn’t provide enough parking for its residents which they should do. If one looks at Nassau County, it is mandated by law that every place of business, institution, and community must provide adequate parking or they are not perrmitted to operate. There is no such reasonable laws in NYC. If NYC would adopt the same rational standards as Nassau County things would run much smoother in NYC. However, ticketing is a major source of income for the city. I think many people would rather prefer to pay a parking tax instead in order to have adequet parking provided rather than dealing with the parking nightmare and ticketing hassels of this city.

    Chelmite
    Chelmite
    13 years ago

    Big deal -that’s how they behave in CHELM

    13 years ago

    This is called (MBT) Mike Bloomberg Treatment!
    • Don’t pay for snow cleaning!
    • Blame you for not parking properly!
    • Charge you $115 and say you deserve it!

    BUT MIKE BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCED IN HIS MONDAY PRESS CONFERENCE THAT HE HAS SENT CITY EMPLOYEES TO GIVE OUT CHOCOLATE MILK TO KIDS PLAYING IN THE CITY PARKS!

    bubble
    bubble
    13 years ago

    ZERO tolerance for parked cars. like that approach but City Hall including Mr. Mayor practice what you preach we too have zero tolerance for this fiasco you have crreated

    amicable
    amicable
    13 years ago

    In 10 minutes, you can shovel your way to a legal spot (assuming you dont have a 4×4 that can do so without shoveling)

    You shouldnt have gotten a ticket but i dont see it as the most vile of sin that you did get one.

    All you whiners are probably also the same guys that have those atv’s (lipat) and are probably really (at least inwardly) thrilled about the snow debacle situation

    curious
    curious
    13 years ago

    I live in Flatbush. About five years ago, I decided to get together with my brother and go to a restaurant in the heart of BP. After looking for a spot within a half mile of the location for 45 minutes, we gave up. That was under normal conditions. People want to follow the law . But big Bloomberg’s policies fall under th category of LO SHAVKIS CHAYA LICHOL BERYA. If an absentee landlord didn’t shovel, he was ticketed. Of course he couldn’t get their to shovel, but he gets a ticket. However, in front of public schools, all of which are not in session, no one has shoveled. The government could never follow its own rules because it couldn’t function. Yet we are expected to regardless of the weather conditions.

    13 years ago

    So you admitted that you parked illegally and then complain that you got a ticket?
    There’s an old saying “two wrongs don’t make a right.” The city has botched the response to the snow: streets are still blocked. Does that make it right to park illegally? Furthermore, with all of the attention being focused on the blocked streets, don’t you think that (1) there will be more ticketing and towing in order to clear streets so plows can get in and (2) there will be more attention so that the city will be able to say “see! the cars are parked illegally and preventing us from removing the snow.”

    13 years ago

    You should all stop qvetching and hire some Mexicans to dig out your car. They got mine out in about 5 minutes. In fact, Bloomberg should hire them to clean up the city. They’re very good at shoveling. The Yidden, nebuch, are not good shovelers.

    sissel613
    sissel613
    13 years ago

    Yesterday I got the shock of my life—we have lived here all of our lives and never–I repeat–never–have I seen Ocean Parkway literally used as a “parkway”–I have never seen Ocean Parkway used to park cars–some say tow trucks put the cars there and some say they just parked there because they saw other cars parked there and still had 6 blocks to walk home! Now not only are the left turn lanes full of cars, the right lanes have become parking lots as well !!!! I think that everyone who got tickets during this snow storm should get together and raid the mayor’s office and just dump the tickets on his desk– let him pay for them. I also think that the “outer boroughs” city council people, borough presidents, etc should file a class action suit against the city. I hope that the next time sanitation workers have a contract to negotiate, they should really hold out !!! Either bring back the sanitation workers who were laid off or go on strike !!Yes I know it would create havoc on our street cleaning and garbage pickup but too many pieces of equipment were left in the garages because there was no one to drive them !!!shame on you Mr Mike–and yes YOU ARE to blame!

    zayin
    zayin
    13 years ago

    Try getting down ocean pkwy, between ave I and the prospect. It takes between 45 minutes to an hour to get thru. Why? Because all these cars (mostly car sevices, they have T&LC; plates) are parked in the first lane, in each direction, and parked in the middle.
    This causes a major inconvenience to the THOUSANDS of cars that drive down ocean pkwy!
    All those cars DESERVE tickets!!
    A. If ur parked there cuz you live there, why did u pull ur car out in the 1st place?? You KNEW you wouldn’t be able to find spots when you get back
    B. If ur parked there cuz u work nearby, you know there’s no spots, use Mass transit!!

    13 years ago

    All tickets should be taken to Lander’s office. He promised to help those that got ticked unfairly. Let’s see if what he says is true. So far Mr Landers has done NOTHING for the Brooklyn people!

    13 years ago

    When Bloomberg wakes up and discovers that the citizens of NYC are not criminals (which his policies have declared), he will accomplish something, have voters to keep him in power, and actually do the city more fiscal good. As things are now, he considers us criminals, and I count myself among those who will never ever vote for him again. Just like all my neighbors, I’m basically a nice, law abiding citizen. Don’t declare war on me.

    13 years ago

    People need their cars to get to work. Bloomberg effectively stopped business in the city for 2 days, and the hypocrite talks about fiscal woes. the extra money he would have to spend to get the roads clear pale by comparison to the lost wages of those 2 days. City tow trucks should be helping stuck vehicles not ticketing them. Bloomberg and his cohorts are not only mean but are stupid. Everyone should hold him fully responsible for this fiasco.

    Sam23
    Sam23
    13 years ago

    Due to the loss of ticket revenues. Bloomberg will be investing In snowmobiles for all the meter maids. According to the mayors office they hope to have the meter maids ready for the next blizzard.  

    mferber
    mferber
    13 years ago

    Watch. Next Monday alternate sides parking will be back in effect, even if there is still snow on the street. Instead of adding parking spaces, teh city keeps addind ‘NO STANDING’ signs. Any shul that has such signs in front of their building is causing Yidden a loss of money. They should get them removed.

    ALLAN
    ALLAN
    13 years ago

    The John V Lindsay snow storm mess of 1969 is looking like a picnic compared to the Bloomberg 2010 disaster. JVL must be laughing in his grave at having lost the title of the worst snow storm Mayor in NYC history.

    Sammy
    Sammy
    13 years ago

    Anyone who took out their car in this blizzard and got ticketed because they could not park legally deserves it. All you chachomim caused a bad mess to be even worse. In a blizzard you don’t drive, period.