Five years ago, in an effort to stop the scourge of widespread illegal parking, the New York City Council passed a package of legislation that increased the fine for using a fraudulent parking placard from $250 to $500.
"Placard abuse is corruption, plain and simple, and New York City cannot tolerate it any longer," then-City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said of the "legislative crackdown."
But according to a Hell Gate analysis of more than 20,000 parking placard violations issued from 2020 through 2024, not a single driver has been hit with even a $250 penalty for using a fraudulent placard, let alone a $500 fine.
Instead, the data shows that thousands of drivers have been repeatedly issued $65 citations for displaying fraudulent parking permits, with some of the worst offenders racking up more than 30 tickets for bogus placards. The low fines, coupled with the City's lax enforcement, all but guarantee that scofflaws will choose to park illegally over and over again.
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