Has parking enforcement become more aggressive lately in Brooklyn Heights, or is the NYPD being “selectively” aggressive? We received this complaint from a long-time reader concerning the “no standing” zone on Henry and Cranberry:
We parked our car there for a brief period of time around 6:30am on Wednesday to prep as we had to get our son to the hospital by 7:15am. When we came out at 6:47 there was a ticket and a notice on the window. In my haste and worry for being late, I tried to drive and the boot punctured the tire. We had to pay a ticket, pay $375 to the tow pound, my partner had to go to the post office to get a $35 money order to pay for the boot that we ruined and we had to pay $400 to have our tire replaced. And, needless to say my partner spent the morning attending to this and wasn’t there for the surgery.
Yikes! Fifteen minutes from violation, to ticket, to boot! That’s a pretty quick turnaround time! While the reader is well aware they risked a ticket, the boot was an aggressive move. According to the NYC.gov Booting FAQ , your car will get the boot if you owe “more than $350 in parking or camera violation tickets that are in judgment”. The reader swears their record is clean! Moreover:
My bigger issue is that ALL DAY, EVERY DAY cars and trucks sit in that No Parking spot and are NEVER ticketed. Half the time they are idling and I ask them to turn off their engine. Many people get angry at me and it feels unsafe to have to do this myself. I have called 311 but nothing has been done. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander – you boot me and ticket me, then start ticketing and booting all trucks and cars, including the car with a police decal that parks there every Sunday afternoon while they eat at Noodle Pudding.
