Council Probes Illegal Parking In Handicap Zones

Motorists who illegally park in spaces set aside for handicapped drivers are facing a tough crackdown by the City Councils Transportation Committee.
A new law would train civilian volunteers to photograph vehicles illegally parked in shopping center handicapped parking spaces. Regulations to tow scofflaw offenders from these spots are also being considered.
Explaining his concern, Councilman John Liu, chairman of the Councils Transportation Committee, declared, "We need to create a tougher mechanism to punish these inconsiderate scofflaws and preserve these spaces for the people they were designated for."
The proposed program will employ civilian volunteers trained to survey parking spaces.
Containing nearly half of the citys municipal parking lots and well over one-third of New York Citys landmass, Queens has the most shopping center handicapped parking spaces in New York City.
Over one-third of the citys council members have already joined Liu as bill co-sponsors, helping to ease committee passage when the bill is considered later this summer. But, some members of the public dont share the councils enthusiasm.
While calling for strong enforcement to protect handicapped motorists parking rights, Mark Kulewicz, the New York Automobile Clubs director of traffic engineering and safety services, expressed concern about some legal aspects of the proposed law as well as for the safety of the volunteers in dealing with enraged motorists.
He was joined by Glen Bolofsky, president of parking ticket.com, a firm that teaches thousands of motorists, particularly large commercial firms, how to fight parking tickets. He pointed out that the State Vehicle and Traffic Law for handicapped parking spaces contains uniquely stringent requirements for parking-lot operators to follow.
Failure of civilian volunteers to accurately include every one of these mandates in the photographs could result in a host of potential legal wrangles when a summons is adjudicated:
Handicapped parking blue zones must be "clearly marked" and signs posted between five to seven feet above the ground.
Faded blue lane lines or a sign posted higher than seven feet could be legal grounds for dismissal.
Some parking-lot owners may be hit with violations, since 5% of each lots parking spaces must be allocated for the handicapped.
Noting that additional handicapped space is also needed in municipal lots, Councilman Liu stated, "I would fully expect that public parking be subject to at least the same requirements as private spaces are."
The citys municipal parking system has about 6,000 parking spaces in over 10 parking lots in Queens that are exempt from the law.