"Pay the Motorist $100" when a NYC Parking Ticket is Dismissed

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Erroneously issued parking tickets

If Assembly member, Michael DenDekker's Bill is passed by the NY State Assembly, four (4) powerful words will ring out in NYC parking ticket courts across the five (5) boroughs every time  a parking ticket is dismissed because of an error by a warrior. "Pay the motorist $100."

Here's the current language of the Bill, which has been referred to the Transportation Committee:

" AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to an erroneously issued parking violation summons

Section 1. Section 19-207 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision c to read as follows:
"WHERE THE HEARING OFFICER DETERMINES THAT A PARKING VIOLATION SUMMONS WAS ERRONEOUSLY ISSUED DUE TO NO FAULT OF THE PERSON RECEIVING SUCH SUMMONS AND IS DISMISSED BECAUSE THE DRIVER DID NOT VIOLATE ANY LAW, THE COURT SHALL ISSUE A ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR PAYMENT TO THE PERSON WHO WAS ISSUED THE TICKET."

According to statistics quoted by Assembly member DenDekker, 14.7% of all parking tickets were dismissed, and 17% of all appeals were reversed in favor of the driving public.

The MEMO

A02153 Memo:

BILL NUMBER:A2153

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to an erroneously issued parking violation summons
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: The purpose of this bill is to hold the City of New York accountable for erroneously issued parking violation summons by compensating motorists or vehicle owners when justified.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill will amend Section 19-207 of the administrative code of the City of New York by adding a new subdivision c to require a one hundred dollar payment to a motorist or vehicle owner when a hearing officer determines that a parking violation summons was erroneously issued due to no fault of the person receiving such summons and is dismissed
JUSTIFICATION: According to the Mayor's Management Report (MMR), published annually by the Mayor's Office of Operations (MOO), which provides descriptive statistics about parking fine-related activities, in FY 2008 14.7% of all issued parking violations were dismissed and 17.1% of parking ticket appeals granted reversal. Residents should not have to take off from work, take pictures, keep records and defend themselves repeatedly against erroneously issued parking violations without being compensated.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill.

FISCAL IMPACT: Estimated cost to the City of New York $6,000,000

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall become law.

Here is an article from yesterday's New York Daily News on the erroneous parking ticket penalty bill, which you may find interesting.

Commentary:

Bravo to Assembly member DenDekker for his passionate response to a serious challenge facing the NYC driving public every day. I love reading the Bill's Memo. It identifies a major challenge, and offers a solution based upon accountability.

In my humble opinion, in its present form, by targeting "mistakes," and potentially exposing NYC to $6M worth of liability, this Bill will never see the light of day. Does the DenDekker Bill reward a  person $100 who parks next to a fire hydrant, but whose ticket is dismissed because a parking ticket warrior entered the wrong place of occurrence by mistake? Or does the Bill exclude all parking tickets that are dismissed because of omitted, misdescribed, or illegible required elements?

How would the Bill deal with parking tickets that are dismissed because a defense to a violation was properly proved? For example, if a member of the driving public is charged with a No Standing violation, presents the proper proof that he/she stopped temporarily to discharge a passenger, and persuades a judge to dismiss the parking ticket. Is this member of the driving public awarded $100?

I would approach a solution from a different angle. First, I would start performance reviews, based on the numbers. if a warrior's performance in issuing parking tickets that stick falls below a certain level, he/she is terminated. Get rid of the badly behaved, or incompetent warriors. For example, if a warrior issues 200 parking tickets, and some unacceptable percentage of those tickets are dismissed, the warrior's performance is unacceptable. The warrior should be terminated.

Second, initiate a real effort to target warriors that participate in parking ticket scams. For example, warriors are still issuing illegal, $165 parking tickets for blocking legal pedestrian ramps. The rogue warrior's signature appears at the bottom of the parking ticket. Either the warrior disregarded the rule, and knowingly issued a bogus parking ticket; or didn't know the law. Either way, the warrior should be terminated immediately.

The parking ticket and tow scam. A unsuspecting member of the driving public parks their vehicle in a legal parking space overnight. The next morning the car is gone. A warrior issues a parking ticket BUT, inserts a different, illegal, place of occurrence. Shame on the warrior. The name of the warrior appears on the parking ticket. Terminated!

Track the parking tickets, and hold warriors accountable for participating in scams, not knowing the rules, or making too many mistakes by terminating the laggards.

Get rid of the bottom X percent of bad or incompetent warriors. I agree with Assembly member DenDekker's wonderful goal. I would approach it from a different angle.

How about you? Would you keep it simple, and strike at NYC's wallet to make your point? Any thoughts? Please share them. Your ideas are important to all of us.

If you found this article helpful, you may wish to share it with your friends. Simply click on the above social media buttons of your choice. Thanks, Larry