New York, NY – Mayor Bloomberg’s budget proposal, includes a plan to increase parking meter rates across the city, a plan which the City Council scuttled once in January. The transportation budget also includes an increase in revenue from an expansion of the city’s red light camera program.
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The proposal is the same as in the mayor’s preliminary budget, released last February. In Manhattan below 86th Street, meter rates will rise from $2.50 to $3.00 per hour. That change was not challenged by the Council and is likely to move forward smoothly. In the rest of the city and at municipal lots, meter rates will increase from $0.75 to $1.00 per hour.
Overall, the increase in parking meter revenue would raise roughly $20 million next year and $25 million after that.
Another potential controversy buried in the budget is a plan to expand the use of red light enforcement cameras. The number of intersections where the city can install cameras is limited by Albany, but this plan would add extra cameras facing the opposite direction at 20 locations that already have cameras. Red light cameras have been repeatedly shown to reduce crashes and save lives, so the expansion of the program should be a boon to safety.
Read more at Streetsblog New York (blog)
if they woudnt have spent so many millions on the bike lanes there woud be more money for teachers and firemen and policemen. what a lousy way to prioritize.
Bloomberg, please go home and leave us in peace! At this rate we will soon be paying 50 cents for 20 minutes parking at a regulat meter! This bachelor billionaire cannot begin to fathom the strain these extras place on the average person’s monthly budget…
Here is how the Mayor should accomplish this.
1. Modify all parking meters to not accept quarters. You only get a few minutes from a quarter, and there is nowhere you can go that quickly. Have them only accepting dollar coins. Make sure that banks have only a limited number of dollar coins so that every meter becomes a guaranteed citation and cash cow.
2. Have every ticket agent and police officer equipped with boots. Instead of ticketing each car, give it the boot, and insure that big money comes in for each violation.
3. Enlarge tow pounds, and reduce the minimum dollar figure of outstanding tickets to facilitate more towing. Also, pass a law that the towed car must be redeemed for all the outstanding ticket plus the huge towing and storage fees within 7 days, or the auto will be sold on auction.
I’m out of time, or I would think up additional strategies to punish automobile owners, and make NYC the worst place to be if you have a car.
It is beyond belief, how the answer to any problem in the city is to raise taxes, fees or fines on the residents without thinking of limiting spending, or G-d forbid bring these proposals to a public vote.
What is morally reprehensible is the notion that a city balances the budget as a result of criminal activity. It’s repugnant that money procured from traffic violations should be earmarked or counted on for the budget. So that, the city is hurt financially if citizens OBEY traffic laws. If no one speeds or runs a STOP sign the city takes a loss.
Similarly, cigarette taxes. The city/government has already earmarked the proceeds of cigarette taxes for the yearly budgets. So that, if everyone would quit tomorrow the government would take a loss. Ironically the government and the city keep sponsoring ad campaigns encouraging people to quit smoking. But the reality is they don’t want people to quit, The city/government would loose money.
If government is so concerned about people’s health and well-being they should ban cigarettes altogether, not encourage people to quit and enjoy the revenues it generates.
#3, in my book emergency personnel should not get cut. i have read numerous incident reports that said response time to a fire could have been better had the closest station not been closed down. same for ambulances and cuts in police services. i have yet to read any danger to folks about spending less money on parking meters. it is not life threatening by any means. one of the newspapers did a study on bike lanes in soho and saw so many violations of the bike riders that were not ticketed. why not??
also, i see a big surge in adults having their children (1 or 2) on their bicycles. 1 in front of the adult, 1 behind. i have even seen 1 adult with two kids in a makeshift buggy attached to the back of the bike. zero protection for any of those children. no helmets, nothing. g-d forbid if there is an accident they are so vulnerable. the bikes should have to be registerd and carry liability insurance. the rules should be enforced.
they should make a private school tax – $1000 per child that is enrolled in private school that should raise enough money to keep the teachers in the PS system
Big deal! Here in London-Golders Green- the minimum amount for parking has just risen from 30pence to £1(1-30 minutes. Up to one hour is now £2).
the citizens of ny need to take care of the meters
I stopped doing business in NYC a long time ago, I prefer NJ and CT where you get less nickle and dime’d.