We've all seen police cars parked blatantly in illegal zones simply for a donut run. But at a time when many cities are looking at New York's congestion pricing policies as a way to reduce local smog, improve health and enhance the "livability" of urban areas, privileged parking is suddenly coming under intense scrutiny. And the Big Apple finds itself in the middle of a scandal.
It turns out that the city has issued some 142,000 free parking placards to city apparatchiks--about twice as many as City Hall had estimated were in circulation. More than 500 belong to the mayor's office alone. Who cares that you have to pay to drive in Manhattan when you can't find a place to park?
Environmentalists are up in arms over this excess because free parking placards encourage city workers to drive, rather than to take mass transit. Mayor Bloomberg has promised to dramatically reduce the number of placards in circulation. But this has only intensified the controversy over fairness. City parking laws are crucial for easing traffic flow, identifying stolen or abandoned vehicles and keeping streets clean. But everyone knows that they're also a tremendous (often insidious) form of revenue. You can get away with murder in many American cities. But parking violations? Never.
In many cities, citizens are happy to stick it to drivers in parking violations, congestion pricing, tolls, and other charges if the revenues underwrite mass transit. Free parking placards abrogate the intent of these laws. They're unfair. They're undemocratic. They should go.
