The reason there is no parking on one side of the street is that it is a very narrow street. Apparently someone died because a fire truck could not get through. That’s enough of a reason for me to be angry.

It’s also not the traffic agents. They are being told from way up high not to ticket these cars…placards, doctors, church parkers. Let’s just all obey the law.

My thing is I really just hate to see tax dollars at waste. This area is covered with cops with their ticket book out; Brooklyn Heights was just reported to be one of the most ticketed area in NYC. But they skip the MD plates, the government plates (Marty Connor must missing parking in front of his place), the judge placards, and all the fake placards people print off the web (I’d out the two very grouchy Montague shopkeepers, but they scare me).

I wish they’d either call off the dogs or step up and get the job done right.

Ditto National Grid.

On my blog, ( http://inklake.typepad.com )I’ve posted pictures of a VW with MD plates, but it is a -nice- VW. The Mercedes was the car that happened to be there when I saw the cop writing the ticket for the SUV, and I happened to have my camera with me.

You’re right – there is a lot of abuse of the privilege, but I, like the writer of the New Yorker piece last week, do in fact see a connection between these things.

The status quo allows for not just semi-benign abuse by podiatrists and proctologists, as well as school-teachers and church-goers, but it could allow some really bad people to park their car filled with God knows what.

How does one balance the needs of service people like doctors and police officers with the needs of the rest of the community?

Actually, feel free to blog about me – period. I’ll feel validated. :)

I would reeeeeeeellllllllaaxxxx more if regular citizens of earth had some leeway. I once brought my tiny newborn baby home from the hospital after having been in the NICU for a spell. I wanted to have a minute to introduce older sibling and big dog to the new addition and get everyone settled. Maybe even take a picture. I left a dated and TIMED note in the window, “Bringing newborn baby home from hospital! Be back in 5 minutes.” and sure enough, got a ticket. You have to laugh.

In any event, if the People, in their wisdom, decide that doctors should get a break, it should be done by having that codified.

Otherwise these privileges are going to be doled out in a way that leads to abuse and sore feelings. At best it leads to cynicism, at worse, it leads to something like the Times Square incident – which thankfully turned out to be a false alarm.

For those who have asked who to contact to make similar complaints, the city’s website says that these complaints should be made via phone – to the 311 line. I encourage people to record the incident number and to follow-up.

In Brooklyn Heights, you can also call the 84th Precinct, run by Captain Mark DiPaolo.
(718) 875-6811

The phone number for the Community Affairs Officer is (718) 875-6850.

You can also contact your City Councilperson. In Brooklyn Heights, that’s Steve Levin:
718-875-5200

These are obvious abusers of the system. Thanks for your reporting. Keep the good work up. Please give us a link on where to complain about these abuses.

I understand the need for doctor’s on call to have this right — altho doesn’t it seem awfully antiquated — but when people are abusing this right, it becomes yer basic abuse of power.

Too bad cops who ticket don’t have regular rounds. That might do the trick.

As for your ‘racism’ story – I hear you. I don’t think for one second your job is an easy one. I’m glad it sounds like that incident came to nothing.

I have someone complain that I was a racist because I had written him a ticket but not a white person who was doing the same thing at the same time. First of all, I was looking for tickets that day and I certainly would have written whitey had I seen him, but I didn’t. Second of all, the man who complained was a light skinned hispanic man who I actually thought was white at the time I wrote the ticket. And most importantly, I am not a racist and the color of someone’s skin has absolutely nothing to do with who I decide to take enforcement action against.

So to have the guy who wrote the ticket post a blog saying officer so-and-so is a racist, yeah, that would get under my skin.

Neither car was occupied. The doctor’s car had been parked there for about 3 hours or so. It’s just the reflection from the flash that is making the lights look ‘on’.

I personally witnessed the officer writing the ticket.

It’s funny you mention that though, as I thought of digitally altering the pic to tone that down, but didn’t want to re-touch things.

That being said, unless you’re Valerie Plame or otherwise working undercover, if someone is worried about their name getting out while doing their job, it’s probably worth a moment of reflection. I would say that goes extra for someone such as a police officer, who is granted powers that civilians don’t have.

Otherwise, it’s a ‘you need me on that wall’ speech.

1) they don’t legally have them now

2) bikers are endangered by the willful non-enforcement of the traffic regs/laws by people who have taken it on themselves to decide who gets a break and who doesn’t.

3) this current ‘system’ has allowed for a van to sit in Times Square for days, ending up in it being evacuated on the day of New Year’s Eve.

4) finally, I doubt very much any of these self-appointed ‘deciders’ would tolerate for one minute any of this in front of their own residences.

I have lived in this neighborhood for years, and I love living here and I have good friends and neighbors who live here too. But I would never want to work here. I am glad I work in the ghetto, which is not that far from here, where people call the police when they have a real problem, like drug dealers in their buildings, or domestic violence, or gangs with weapons in their children’s playgrounds, where I am happy to do what I can to solve a real problem, instead of hearing a bunch of whining about people’s neighbors parking illegally. I dare you to go to Brownsville and in plain view of everyone on the block harass a cop because you want him to write a ticket to a neighbor that you just ratted out.