The issue of parking tickets being given out on alternate side parking days in Brooklyn neighborhoods, where it’s traditional to double park during street cleaning hours arises from time to time. For instance, as in this case, in an email circulating with our friends at Park Slope Parents:
So we (only some of us) were ticketed yesterday (Park Pl) for double parking during street cleaning. The officer discriminately ticketed half of the block and then stopped. I remembered reading on this listserv that double parking is only a courtesy. Is this true? Is this ticket worth fighting for? I know there is an unpublicized discount program for tickets, but I would not like to pay a cent on this ticket. Please advise. If you have successfully fought a ticket like this, can you share the wording with me (we plan on writing and just don’t have the time to do it in person).
Actually, it is a courtesy from the Precinct. Perhaps the city is so hard up for cash that it’s going to stop being, uh, courteous. Or will be randomly discourteous.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Mike // Jan 9, 2009 at 11:10 am
I don’t see how you can fight a parking ticket when you are parked illegally.
2 solidago // Jan 9, 2009 at 11:39 am
But if EVERYONE does it… seriously, what the hell else are you supposed to do with the cars? Furthermore because of the alternate side rule, it opens up a lane that wouldn’t otherwise be there, so if you follow this “common law” practice (the double parking) you aren’t impeding traffic like with standard jerk double parking. That’s why the only cars that usually get ticketed are the ones that aren’t moved, which are impeding this new lane.
The judge surely has discretion, so I’d definitely fight it if it happened to me.
3 Janet // Jan 9, 2009 at 11:57 am
Double-parking is no less illegal during alternate-side, and if the traffic agent sought to make that particular thankless job more entertaining by, say, only ticketing the red cars, s/he could do that.
4 I // Jan 9, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I just got one too. In Bay Ridge though. Most of the cars were unticketed.
5 iheartbk // Jan 9, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I agree with Mike. It is illegal to double park, no matter what. This phenomenon drives me crazy, because I spend so much time finding a spot that will be legal. But, then, should I have to go out during the regulations my car is blocked in by all of the double parkers. At least have the courtesy to sit in the car or leave your phone number so I can get out.
6 Anonymous // Jan 9, 2009 at 5:21 pm
They have done that on my block before but it was only to the cars that did not have a contact address and phone number in the front windshield so if someone needed to get out they could. It’s a courtesy to double park and not get a ticket and they ticketed the people that were not courteous enough to leave a note in the car.
7 Janet // Jan 10, 2009 at 8:48 am
“But if EVERYONE does it… seriously, what the hell else are you supposed to do with the cars?”
Come up with an alternative plan as to what you’re going to do with the cars during those ninety minutes a week (i.e., if you really are around then, that’s the time to do your errands).
While you’re in the car, think about why, in this neighborhood so well served by public transit, you need to own one. Also why it’s OK to double-park in someone who planned ahead and found a legal spot.
If all else fails, work the cost of a garage into your car budget.
8 Deborah // Jan 11, 2009 at 10:21 am
Did you catch the article in the Times about automatic fine reductions? Not an answer to your question, but maybe it’ll reduce the pain a bit.
9 pat // Feb 26, 2009 at 11:37 am
I double parked my car because of alternate side parking. I do it everyday for about 7 years now and never got a ticket. Today 2/26/09 every other car was ticketed. I will fight it! I just don’t know what to do with my car, there is no where to park! I’m very upset!
10 mirlande // Feb 27, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I have the same problem that Pat have on 2/26/09. I double parked of alternate side parking. The car beside me move out and a traffic agent gave me a summon of violation that I parked 8 feet from the sidewalk. The judge found me guilty. What can I do?
11 Kevin // Jun 17, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Today I contested two double parking tickets and I’ve got bad news for you folks. IT IS NEVER, NEVER, NEVER ok to double park. Not while you load in your groceries, and not because of street cleaning. It is deceptive because the cops and meter maids continually make exceptions, but it is completely at their own discretion and you will be found guilty NO MATTER YOUR EXCUSE. Your only recourse is to go the Dept of Finance and they will let you settle for a reduced fine (from $150 down to $90) OR rip the backseats out of your car, install lettering, and turn your vehicle into a commercial vehicle. Then at least you can load and unload legally.
It’s despicable and infuriating. I hate this city sometimes.
Kevin