Parking regulation makes sense

All too often, when a politician talks about “common sense legislation,” you wonder if they have any. This time is a welcome exception.
As part of its “ongoing efforts to make the city’s traffic regulations more sensible and less unnecessarily punitive,” the City Council is working on a law that will make sense out of the “broken meter rule.”
Under current city parking regulations, if a parking meter is missing, motorists can legally park in the space for the maximum allowed time shown on the meter and parking signs.
If the meter is broken, however, the maximum is one hour.
Councilmember John Liu, who chairs the Transportation Committee, announced that they had approved “Intro 821A” on Thursday, November 6.
The bill, sponsored by Brooklyn Councilmember Simcha Felder, eliminates the one-hour provision. It would allow free parking at a broken meter for the amount of time indicated on the meter and the signs, just as if the meter were missing.
Calling the old rule “another example of city parking rules that are grounded in faulty premises,” Liu promised, “The committee will continue to pursue changes to parking rules that serve little purpose other than to regard the driving public as a cash cow.”
Felder conceived the bill because “Most people have no idea that they are only allowed at a broken meter for an hour and that results in confusion, unfair parking tickets, and anger.”
“Anything we can do to cut down on the number of unfair parking tickets issued by the city is a step in the right direction,” he said.
The “Intro” still has to be approved by a vote of the full council and must pass muster with Mayor Michael Bloomberg before it would take effect - 90 days after it is enacted into law.
Until then, use common sense when parking in the city - one-hour at a broken meter is all you get; one parking sign controls a whole block and if two signs say two different things, the most restrictive one rules.