Manhattan, NY - Community Leaders' Set Example in Giving Up Parking Passes

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Manhattan, NY - A community board is sacrificing one of its few perks - parking placards.

Community Board 2, which stretches from Greenwich Village to Chinatown, has voted unanimously to stop applying for the free passes.

"We feel as a community that the placard system has been abused. It's our statement to the administration that we need to do our share to reign that process in," Board 2 Chairman Brad Hoylman said.

Each of the city's 59 community boards gets two placards - for the chairman and district manager - that allow them to park in spots off-limits to the general public.

A recent list of officials who lost their parking privileges included community board members who left their post or had not paid parking tickets. Hoylman, who doesn't own a car, was part of a handful who didn't apply.

The board admits it has an ulterior motive: to get the city to trim the number of spaces it will give employees of a new sanitation garage in SoHo.

"We are trying to put our money where our mouth is on the issue," Hoylman said.