Due to an unusually harsh winter, alternate-side parking rules have been suspended a record number of times so far this year. But that hasn't slowed the ticket writing: cops are writing tickets at nearly the same pace as in 2013 — and have even increased it in Brooklyn and two other boroughs.

Despite Fewer Alternate Side Days, Ticket Writing Is Up

Due to an unusually harsh winter, alternate-side parking rules have been suspended a record number of times so far this year. But that hasn’t slowed the ticket writing: cops are writing tickets at nearly the same pace as in 2013 — and have even increased it in Brooklyn and two other boroughs.

From the NY Post:

Through Sunday, there were 18 street-cleaning suspensions for snow and holidays, compared with two at the same time last year.

But tickets are down just 2.4 percent citywide, and are up in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx.

“This is really outrageous,’’ said motorist Dave Hoyt, 58, of Woodside, Queens.

“You think, ‘Oh, look, they’re giving us a break, suspending alternate-side because of the snow.’ But the city, being what it is, they always find some other way to fine you.

“They’re not going to let a dime slip through their fingers.’’

In The Bronx, the number of parking tickets issued jumped 8.4 percent, from 17,065 tickets so far this year to 15,736 for the same period in 2013.

“I guess we’re just doing our job, ma’am,” a traffic agent near the Bronx courthouse said when asked about the increase.

Manhattan parking tickets dropped from 39,160 to 33,524, and Staten Island dipped from 3,056 to 2,922.

The NYPD did not respond when asked to explain the statistics.

The city Department of Transportation coordinates with the Sanitation Department to decide when to suspend parking regulations.

The DOT said it suspended the restriction again Monday — despite only a slushy dusting of snow the night before — to remove that snow and to allow Sanitation to continue spreading salt.

The regulations were suspended again Tuesday to allow more salt-spreading and so workers could continue to chip away at the ice piled up on curbs, a Sanitation rep said.

Because Wednesday is Lincoln’s Birthday, a holiday, the rules will be suspended then as well.

5 Comments

  • conspiracy

    besides the tickets did you notice how they are taking away more and more parking spaces. spots, half blocks, even whole blocks. they are deliberately coordinating the lights so that they cause more traffic. they are taking away lanes. all in order to either make people give up their cars or to be able to give more tickets. or both.

  • yy

    they’re saving money on not having street cleaning due to the weather, why do they need to continue ripping off the citizens?

    • jordan

      Leave it to the city and the unions to figure out how not to be saving money when they are not cleaning!

  • המקום המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים n'eNow!

    r.i.p. bloomburg