From the fine pages of Brooklynian comes this complaint from someone that the cops weren’t writing tickects for double-parked cars:
So I’m at the Crunch Gym on Flatbush and I’m doing my cardio workout upstairs looking down on Flatbush Ave and I notice there are about four double-parked cars. So I’m wondering if the police will come by and give a ticket while I’m exercising and sure enough, emerging from Hawaii Chinese are two Police officers carrying their lunch. They look both ways and cross the street to their cruiser which is parked in the bus stop near American Apparel doing absolutely nothing about the double-parked cars and I think, “Give them a break, it’s their lunch hour and they have hot food.” So I finish up my cardio and move on. At times I glance out the window and notice the continued flow of double-parked cars on Flatbush Ave without a Police officer to be seen. After a while I’m done at the gym and walk out onto the street and make a phone call. At this time the traffic is bad and there are about ten double-parked cars. I walk up to the corner of Sterling Place and there I see two Police officers on foot. They are pointing in the direction of all the double-parked cars and they cross the street but instead of ticketing any cars they walk into Parkside Diner. So now I’m like WTF?
So I call 311 and make a non-emergency illegal parking complaint. At this time there are 10 – 12 double-parked cars. I then head into Key Food for some pre-Super Bowl shopping which takes my mind off the parking situation. After ten minutes and checking out, I walk outside expecting nothing to have happened. But what do I see? A Police cruiser driving by! Yeah! I think, 311 does work! But then I notice they are not ticketing anyone, instead the Police are choosing not to enforce one violation and let mayhem ensue. I notice the passenger side window is rolled down and the officer is nonchalantly observing the chaos so I walk up to a double-parked car with no one in it, point to it and yell at the officer, “Hey! Do you know that double-parking is illegal in New York City?” He looks at me, obviously thinking how he would just love to hope out of his car and arrest me for telling him how to do his job. “Yeah I know,” he replies, probably daydreaming of his lunch.
I’m sorry, but I don’t want a police state, but I do want the laws of New York City enforced, especially when there is a budget shortfall and the city is doing everything it can to discourage people from using cars!
This is exactly why the Police, IMO, are looked down upon, why they are known as “Pigs.” They do not enforce the law except when they feel like it! Imagine if everyone was able to do their job only when they wanted to?
Thoughts?
8 responses so far ↓
1 Jr // Feb 5, 2009 at 11:45 am
I could not agree more! It is ridiculous. Part of the problem, I am told, is that in that area, you have little chance of having a ticket paid. (many don’t even have a driver’s license.) I drive all summer from park slope to rockaway, on flatbush. you can’t win…it’s a disaster…dollar fans, double parked, I have wondered a million times about why they don’t ticket, maye that’s why. I know people who have been in accidents, and the other car doesn’t have license, insurance, cash, and it becomes a disaster. Also, they are LAWLESS drivers in that stretch of Fltbush. LAWLESS. That street is a disaster…between the potholes on atlantic, and the mad max free for all on flatbush, brooklyn distinguishes itself with the two worst streets in the nyc area.
2 Janet // Feb 5, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Maybe the complaint has something to do with this section of Flatbush (at least on the Crunch side of the street!) being in Park Slope. Certainly it’s rare for cars NOT to be double-parked on the segment of Flatbush from the other end of the park to the Junction. (I’m puzzled why Jr. (commenter #1) would take Flatbush to get to Rockaway, rather than taking Ocean Parkway and then the Belt, considering how impossible Flatbush Avenue is to travel on.)
3 sam // Feb 5, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I am sorry but you sound like a typical yuppie who wants the police to enforce the letter of the law. But when they actually do crack down on even the petty stuff you’ll be the first hypocrite to tell them to worry about “real crimes” like robberies, guns, etc.
You people really want selective enforcemnet and have a selective memory many times when it comes to police. What the hell do you want them to do when one idiotic person calls them for somethng petty ….and the person being punished by th ecops for something petty is the first idiot to call the news, politicians about cops harassing them.
COPS are just sick and tired of dealing with hypocritical and unappreciative morons in this city so they say a BIG “F” you to those who wanna play monday morning quarterback with them and give a dent effort, nothing more than that…and they very well should.
4 m.m.t. // Feb 5, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Stop whining. Yea double parking sucks but I bet you would be the first one to thank cops for a break if they gave you or a family member a break for double parking a car.
When cops enforce EVERY illegal thing they see people complain………and now when they give little breaks on small violations people STILL complain. Cops cannot win. Too many unrealistic people want them to make everyone happy, which they cannot do. DEAL WITH IT>
5 bloomie // Feb 5, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Dude this is one of the dumbest things I’ve read in awhile. Cops aren’t considered pigs b/c they don’t give out parking tickets. They’re called pigs b/c they’re not giving out tickets in the Slope but rather pulling over and patting down young black men without out any cause. Because over 90% of those whose bags get searched on the subway are black and Latino men (the NYPD can’t even racially profile correctly). Because they demean and scare and terrify and over-police communities of color throughout this city.
6 Steve Din // Feb 6, 2009 at 10:41 am
bloomie mmt and sam you are hostile jerks. The complaint is fair. Parasitical ticket writers prowl the streets of the Slope waiting for expired meters to pop. But double-parked cars that pose a very real danger to law-abiding drivers, bikers, and pedestrians are routinely ignored. Calling someone “idiotic” “dumb” and “petty” for daring to ask the police to enforce the law for everyone’s benefit is just, well, idiotic dumb and petty.
7 Amy // Feb 9, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I had a similar problem in Cobble Hill. I was 2 hours late for work because of double parking. I parked my car in a legal spot and when I went to leave the next morning I was completely parked in. I think the etiquette is to leave a note with your number so if someone needs to get out they can call you. The police came after a lot of prodding and wrote a ticket, then finally a doctor came sauntering out of Long Island Hospital and saw the ticket and laughed…and finally moved his car. A neighbor told me you should call LICH and they’ll announce who’s double parked on the loud speaker and the doctor or whoever will come move his car. I guess you can call this a “typical yuppie complaint” but I needed my car to drive to my temp job where I barely make enough for gas, so take it as you like. We all deserve to get to work on time.
8 AA // Apr 13, 2009 at 6:16 pm
311 is USELESS. They have 10 hours to respond to non-emergency calls. I have a situation where someone does ‘favors’ for the police and they let him park his car for months straight in a 2 hour only spot. I’ve complained numerous times and nothing changes.