New York, NY – City Program Slashes Parking Fines, but Only If You Ask

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    New York, NY – In a city of markdowns, where bargains are prized, New York officials have been offering sharply reduced fines on parking tickets for almost three years and, remarkably, the deep discounts have gone largely unnoticed.

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    Any driver who challenges a parking ticket – in person, in writing or online – is offered a substantial, guaranteed reduction for most fines, under a program the city quietly introduced in 2005.

    Plead guilty to parking at an expired meter in Midtown, for example, and agree to forgo a hearing, and the city will immediately reduce the fine from $65 to $43. No questions asked.

    But most people who get tickets, about 80 percent by city estimates, do not challenge them and still simply pay the full fine.

    While the willingness to pay full freight may be evidence of civic zeal, it also appears to be an outgrowth of the fact that public knowledge of the program remains slight.

    The city has never produced a press release on the program, whose existence has enabled it to reduce the cost of holding hearings on the 10 million tickets it issues each year. Nor is the policy, known as the settlement program, described in the city’s official brochure “Got Tickets? Your Guide to Parking Ticket Hearings.”

    The settlement option is mentioned on the city’s Web site, though many drivers do not seem to learn about it until they line up for a hearing to challenge a ticket and a clerk advises them that there is another option.

    “How are you supposed to know that?” said Jennifer Zarcone, who has received hundreds of parking tickets in the 16 years she has lived in Brooklyn without ever hearing about the program. “Do they not want you to know?”

    Councilman Vincent J. Gentile of Brooklyn, who has been alerting his constituents to the program, said he can understand why the city is not shouting from the rooftops about the schedule of fine reductions for people who challenge tickets. “Obviously, if they can get someone to pay the full fine,” he said, “it would be more beneficial to the city.”

    But city officials say the program’s low profile is not part of an effort to keep dutiful ticket-payers in the dark. “Since this is offered to everyone universally, it was not as necessary” to publicize it, said Owen Stone, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Finance, which runs all parking ticket adjudication programs.

    Mr. Stone said the settlements, which function like plea bargains in a court setting, have worked to reduce administrative overhead in areas like the five hearing centers. More than half the drivers who challenge tickets now agree to forgo a hearing and plead guilty in exchange for a reduced fine, he said.

    That has allowed the city to pare its stable of parking judges by nearly half, from an average of 222 in 2005 to an average of 128 this year. As a result, the city now spends about $2 million less on administrative costs each year than it did before the program began.

    The city has separate settlement programs for commercial vehicles that are meant to ease payment and also have helped to reduce hearing costs. Delivery companies that enroll, for example, waive their right to a hearing or an appeal, and have all of their fines reduced, in many cases to zero, depending on the severity and location of the infraction.

    City officials say that if the number of people challenging tickets, and getting the discounts, were to rise substantially and affect the economic viability of the program, the city could always just cancel it. “It is unlikely that we would ever reach that tipping point,” Mr. Stone said.

    Currently, city statistics show that 13 percent of individuals who receive parking tickets end up challenging them, a proportion that is unchanged since the settlement program was introduced.

    The clerks who work in the settlement program use a set schedule of fine reductions, which are tied to the severity of the infraction. For certain tickets, like parking at a fire hydrant, no settlement is possible. People who challenge a ticket by mail, or online, are given the same option after they request a hearing.

    Those who challenge a ticket also learn about some new rules that govern the hearing process: Judges no longer have the discretion to reduce fines. They can either find a driver guilty or dismiss the ticket. They are no longer able to set lenient fines for people who seek to plead “guilty with an explanation.”

    The city says using a fine reduction schedule, instead of judicial discretion, creates a fairer, more uniform adjudication process. Officials also estimate that they are collecting more in fines with the reduction schedule because judges actually dismissed more tickets and gave greater reductions under the old system.

    But the change to a set schedule has rankled some critics, who say it deprives citizens of due process and casts clerks in the role of judges.

    “When they offered the settlement, they touted customer service,” said Ruth Kraft, a former law professor at New York University who was an administrative law judge for the city’s Parking Violations Bureau for nine years. “Customer service should not trump due process.”

    Discounts do produce smiles, though, as was evident one recent morning at the Manhattan business center. Two of the six drivers waiting in the line at one point agreed to accept the clerk’s offer of a settlement. One of them was Brigitte Alexander, who had come to fight her tickets because she had received two within nine minutes.

    “To me, it was the principle,” she said. The clerk examined Ms. Alexander’s tickets and saw that the address on one was unreadable.

    Dismissed.

    On the second, the clerk offered to reduce the fine to $43 from $65.

    Done.

    Ms. Alexander’s total cost fell to $43 from $130.
    Another satisfied bargain shopper.

    “The line moved quickly, it was efficient,” Ms. Alexander said. All in all, a good experience that she characterized as “nicer than the post office.”


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    18 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Ganuvim

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Right, people who park illegaly or don’t put money in a meter are ganuvim.

    Police have a License to STEAL from Motorists -  with Illegitimate Tickets
    Police have a License to STEAL from Motorists - with Illegitimate Tickets
    15 years ago

    What they mean to say is that it has to stay a secret because if everyone asks for the “discount” they will have to cancel the program.

    However the real win is if you know all the ins and outs how to challenge a ticket by mail (that the ticket is invalid, mistaken address or other mistakes or unreadbale….) then you get your fine reduced to zero, if you win.

    Only 13% challenge tickets, saying they are not guilty but if 100% did that the courts would be so overwhelmed that the court system would be so swamped that they would be forced to shut down and dismiss all tickets because they can’t handle such a load.

    The city gives tickets to “make money” *not because they care about the Law, in fact the biggest violators are police themselves who park at hydrant when they want to get a Pizza).

    Fight Money (ganovim) with Money (expenditure).

    We, the drivers have the power to (financially) strangle the city by fighting all tickets and chocking the system to a shut-down.

    We have the power to bring them to their knees – but only if we challenge each and every ticket and only if we know how to do it by mail (without wasting our time in court).

    It’s easy if you know how to.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    The city says using a fine reduction schedule, instead of judicial discretion, creates a fairer, more uniform adjudication process. Officials also estimate that they are collecting more in fines with the reduction schedule because judges actually dismissed more tickets and gave greater reductions under the old system.

    They are colleting MORE in fines becuase if you dont take the reduced amount up front they find you guilty no matter what. You will only win if you appeal the guilty verdict wich almost noone does. It is all in how you look at the numbers.
    Highway robbery has a new face on it – mayor bloomberg

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I cant believe they only have 128 judges in NYC for all those tickets they issue.

    It goes to show that NYC residents have no fight in them and will take anything that bloomberg dishes out at them………….

    In that case we deserve what we get…………

    mordy
    mordy
    15 years ago

    Affordable Parking

    Thank you once again for informing us of things that would have practical relevance to our lives as well. Living in NYC is one of the most expensive in the country. One of the major expenses factored in is the many parking tickets received because there is so little place to park. Those places that there are to park there is a good chance that they are illegal in some way. So by allowing us to cut the price of the ticket this helps us save money on out monthly parking expenses which include factoring the parking tickets.
    Those who are concerned about global warming anything that would make life easier to drive and park could be a problem.

    mr.49er
    mr.49er
    15 years ago

    R’ Aaron Kotler zt”l supposedly once said that “there’s no such thing as not having where to park, its just a question of how much it costs, sometimes its 10 cents, sometimes its 25c, sometimes its $35.00 or even $165.00, ………”

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    People should be aware that NYC does NOT honor Handicapped parking stickers from other Cities. Nasty!!

    think smart
    think smart
    15 years ago

    It’s good that you brought up the issue, it can save a lot of yiddish gelt.
    I always plead not guilty online, it takes only a few minutes. I write a bubba maase and then accept the plea offer.
    yiddish gelt is precious…

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Listen to this CHUTZPAH I came running to my meter to put a quarter and this agent is already writing a ticket when on the meter I still had left a minute
    I said don’t you see that there is a minute left, she just walked away
    CHUTZPAH
    Don’t forget to all this at the mayor election

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    There is a book on all the ins and outs on fighting a parking ticket. The book is written by haskel nussbaum a former nyc judge for the motor vehicles. I purchased it on ave m at the judaica place. I’ve used it several times and it mostly worked. At least a bit of hishtadlus 😀

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    There is a book on all the ins and outs on fighting a parking ticket. The book is written by haskel nussbaum a former nyc judge for the motor vehicles. I purchased it on ave m at the judaica place. I’ve used it several times and it mostly worked. At least a bit of hishtadlus 😀

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    By taking the plea you lose the chance to get the ticket dismissed. I only get the reductions when i know for sure that a Judge will find me guilty. Also most of the violations such as fire hydrant, sidewalk, croosswalk, pdestrian ramp, traffic lane are not eligible for reductions. If you need help with your tickets you can call a guy Ideal with and he will either advise you or fight the tickets for you. His name is Sam and he can be reached at 347 582-1438.

    greenBubble
    greenBubble
    15 years ago

    I’ve been advising this for years. if you have a good taána, with proof, then fight it. if not, go online for a hearing and take the settlement.

    greenBubble
    greenBubble
    15 years ago

    they streamlined the system. i just went thru it. i went online for a hearing on monday, got a settlement on friday with 5 days to accept or ignore, i accepted on monday and got an email to pay within 30 days.