Posted by Larry Berezin on Wed, Apr 07, 2010 @ 07:14 AM
I'd like you to meet Don and Donna Marbach.
The Marbachs are a wonderful family from West NY State. They have never, ever made the journey to New York City, yet the NYC DOF claims they owe 36 overdue parking ticket totaling almost $5,000.00. They tried corresponding with the NYC DOF, but to no avail. Their parking fines keep increasing.
Take a few moments to listen to the Marbach's story. You can't make this stuff up.
Commentary
Here's my take on this dastardly situation. People make mistakes, and parking ticket warriors may miss a digit on a license plate number. There are a bunch of bogus parking tickets being written by evil warriors. There are always some bad apples that spoil the bunch.
What I get angry about, though, is the arrogance exhibited by the NYC DOF. How dare the DOF take money under the color of governmental authority from innocent citizens without so much as a blink of an eye. Who is in charge of oversight? How can a City Agency spend months erecting barriers to the truth. It is not the innocent citizens that should have the burden of proving a negative; it should be the DOF.
Who's in charge of reviewing citizen's complaints about bogus parking tickets? What standards are employed? This is a systemic virus that must be cured. NYC has no right to lay claim to money based upon error or fraud. Implement a system to handle these claims in a honest, reasonable, caring manner. Each claim represents a possible mistake or fraud. Finding a man guilty for parking his refrigerator truck in Manhattan when it's never left Michigan; and then affirming the finding on appeal is unconscionable. The system is broken. Fix it!
On the other hand, off with the heads of any member of the driving public who bears false witness about his/her vehicle being present in NYC when a parking ticket is issued. If you did the parking crime, don't lie about it. If there are no mistakes on the parking ticket, and no defense to the parking violation, take the reduction.
We are rooting for the Marhbachs and the DOT to get it right.
If you are a victim of bogus NYC parking tickets, please stand up and be counted. Tell us your story. It helps all of us.
Posted by Larry Berezin on Tue, Apr 06, 2010 @ 06:11 AM
Has this ever happened to you?
You return home from a difficult, stressful day at work. You check the mail box while walking into the front door of your house. Wow, a letter from the NYC Department of Finance with a payment reminder about an overdue parking ticket you allegedly received in Queens two months ago. Strange, you've never been to Queens, ever; nor has your automobile.
How about this?
You have a terrific business. You are very busy and business is growing. You guessed right about purchasing a franchise from "Edible Arrangements." You have a store, and make deliveries in your refrigerated commercial vehicle to customers within a 30 mile radius.
What's this in the mail? A notice from the NYC DOF about an overdue NYC parking ticket? A parking ticket warrior issue a parking ticket swearing your refrigerated commercial vehicle made the journey one fine day from Muskegon, MI to Manhattan. Amazing.
Your refrigerated commercial vehicle has an "Edible Arrangements" wrap, and the parking ticket warrior still inserted "passenger" for plate type.
When you're right-FIGHT your parking ticket
Both of these honest citizens have something in common. They telephoned the NYC DOF, explained their dilemma, and were told not to worry. They were told to send in their explanation, and their tickets will be dismissed; especially since both had mistakes on the front of the parking tickets.
You're getting a head of me. How'd you guess? Both sent in their written explanations and lost their hearings. The guy from Michigan even lost his appeal. (my fault about the appeal).
Don't just sit there and lick your parking ticket wounds, take action!
This is an absurd result. There is absolutely no reasonable, rationale excuse for this type of bad behavior. The parking ticket in Queens was even issued by the old T-420 where some members of the parking ticket division were previously found scamming parking tickets. Shame on you!
Commentary
This type of scam is a break down in the entire system. A bad parking ticket warrior writes a bogus ticket. The out-of-stater receives a notice in the mail several months later. Calls the NYC DOF and follows some half baked instructions about not to worry.
Then, what I really hate to see is a judge finds a guy guilty from Michigan who was allegedly making a delivery with his refrigerated "passenger vehicle" in Manhattan. C'mon, this is the system at its worst.
With that said, this type of bad behavior is not how the system generally operates. Most warriors work hard at a very difficult job and do their honest best. Absolutely the same with most judges in the DOF. So, why aren't you guys angry as hell when your colleagues pull these kind of stunts? You know who is involved. Why not speak up? Say something about the bad guys.
Here are two suggestions:
Have a special hearing officer assigned to parking tickets issued to out-of-state residents who claim they were not in NYC the day the parking ticket was issued. Make it very clear about what proof is necessary to prove a negative. Try it some time. It is not so easy. You know the old routine:
"How long have you been beating your husband?"
"I never beat my husband"
"Oh yea, prove it"
On the day you receive notice from the NYC DOF about a bogus parking ticket, file a police report. Search for your parking ticket on line, and get the name of the bad guy issuing the bogus parking ticket. This is also persuasive evidence about your truthfulness when you contest the parking ticket. A false police report can land you in a heap of trouble.
I'm mad as hell. This has got to stop.
Please contact us with your story, if this scam has been perpetrated on you! Let's take some action and stop this bad behavior.