Unpaid Parking Ticket? If So, Watch Out!!!

Strapped for cash, New York City will be stepping up dramatically its efforts to get traffic scofflaws to pay over $680 million in unpaid parking fines.  These aggressive tactics include:

• Car and asset seizures
• Suspension of registrations
• Use of collection agencies

Anyone with 5 or more unpaid parking tickets with 12 months will get their registrations suspended.  Previously, the City would prevent motorists with $350 or more in unpaid parking tickets from renewing registrations when they expired.  Driving with a suspended registration is misdemeanor (VTL 512) making the City’s new tactic more severe.

 

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A Cost-Less Way To Make Your Business Remarkable

Question:  How does an ordinary diner get people to line up to pay $20 for a hamburger?   Actually, I should add how does a diner do this without costing themselves any additional monies?

Well, Ellen’s Stardust Diner located at 1650 Broadway in Manhattan has figured it out.  They get diners to line up and pay exorbitant fees for ordinary diner food by offering something of value which costs them nothing.  Indeed, not only does it cost them nothing but they actually have the people which provide the extra value lining up themselves to provide it.

So what do they do?  At Ellen’s would-be actors and actresses sing Broadway tunes for the patrons while serving milk shakes and fries.  For the one-time cost of an AV system, the owners of Ellen’s have transformed the diner experience to a fun, “you got to check it out” restaurant.  Of course, creating this concept in the heart of the theater district is a perfect fit as targets  theater-goers (i.e., lovers of show tunes and music).

On the other side of the equation, the waiters and waitresses are eager for this gig because it allows them to sing “on Broadway”, practice their craft and perhaps be found.  Indeed, many former staff at Ellen’s have made it to the Great White Way.  It therefore costs Ellen’s nothing to create a unique experience for which diners are willing to pay a premium.

As you work on you business, try and figure out what you can offer for little or no costs which transforms your business into a remarkable, wait-on-line type of business.

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NYC Police Department Caught Imposing Traffic Ticket Quotas

A police memo published by the Daily News shows unequivocal evidence that the New York City Police Department uses traffic ticket quotas.  This memo was reportedly posted in the roll call room of the 77th precinct and advised officers how many traffic tickets and the type required.

Interestingly, cell phones tickets and seat belt tickets were, by far, the largest portion of the quota.  Neither of these tickets carry points and present a much lower safety hazard than, for example, disobeying a red light or speeding.

This is not the first time that the NYPD has been caught imposing quotes.  Earlier this year, a whistleblower cop recorded a supervisor in the 81st Precinct vowing to go after officers who don’t make at least one arrest a month.

State law prohibits police from using quotas – or setting a target number for arrests or summonses during a specific time frame.  The practice is illegal because it places pressure on police officers to issue traffic tickets (even when a violation may not have occurred) and removes their discretion.  The NYPD has denied this practice for years despite evidence to the contrary.

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Lights, Camera, Action: Bus Lane Cameras Up & Shooting

On November 9, I wrote a post entitled NYC Bus Lane Cameras Coming discussing how the MTA was going to install surveillance cameras on NYC bus lanes, record license plates of cars that illegally cross into them, and issue tickets to violators.  These tickets will be a whopping $115 (much more than the $50 fine for tickets issued by red light cameras).

Well these cameras are now installed and will be operational this week on the East Side of Manhattan.  Bus lanes on First and Second Avenue will be the first to be enforced with cameras.  You can bet that many more bus lane cameras will be coming soon.

Motorists are allowed to use a bus lane only for permitted right turns and expeditious passenger pick ups or drop offs.

A bus lane camera ticket is like a parking ticket (i.e., no points and no driving record consequences).  If a police officer issues a bus lane ticket, it also carries no points but will appear on your driver ‘s license (occasionally, police officers issue these tickets under VTL 1110a – disobey a traffic control device – which carries 2 points).

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NYC Bus Lane Cameras Coming

More Big Brother!  New York State recently authorized the City of New York to install cameras along bus lanes to catch violators.  Signs will be posted where bus lane cameras are in use to warn drivers to keep out of bus lanes.

No word yet on the fine for such a ticket but it likely will be $50 per violation which is the same fine for a red light camera violation.

Motorists are allowed to use a bus lane only for permitted right turns and expeditious passenger pick ups or drop offs.

A bus lane camera ticket is like a parking ticket (i.e., no points and no driving record consequences).  If a police officer issues a bus lane ticket, it also carries no points but will appear on your driver ‘s license (occasionally, police officers issue these tickets under VTL 1110a – disobey a traffic control device – which carries 2 points).

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New York City To Get Smart Parking Meters

Old Fashioned Parking Meters To Be Replaced With Smart Meters

Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday that he wants to make the parking experience for New Yorkers more user friendly.

Specifically, he studying and testing “smart parking meter” technology which will allow motorists to see a map of available parking spaces within a given area, accept payment from a cell phone, and send a text message when time on the meter is about to expire.

These plans are part of a larger overhaul of the NYC parking system which will also include reducing alternate-side-of-the street parking, lowering scofflaw penalties, and increased sensitivity training for traffic enforcement agents.

In an Op-Ed piece to the Daily News, Mayor Bloomberg asks “Who said that parking in New York had to be so hard?”.  Of course, cynics like City Controller William Thompson, called this a stunt to pander to voters in an election year.  Thompson has a point.  It is common for voter-friendly initiatives to get introduced by incumbents during an election year.  One could ask why weren’t such measures introduced years ago?  On the other hand, at least, City residents get a “gift” once every four years.

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