Parking Permit Abuse Report Highlights Need for Authentic Permit Act

Transportation Alternatives released a report today detailing the citywide epidemic of parking permit abuse. The report, entitled "Totally Bogus: A Study of Parking Permit Abuse in NYC," highlights the ongoing usage of fraudulent parking permits in New York City. The report's findings support the results of a recent probe by the State Inspector General which showed widespread parking permit abuse by public officials in New York.

"New York is suffering from an epidemic of parking permit abuse," said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. "Illegally parked cars are a safety hazard as they block crosswalks and fire hydrants and force dangerous veering maneuvers by other motorists. Parking permit abuse also hurts local businesses when parking spaces are blocked by vehicles using illegitimate permits. It's clear that past permit reform attempts have not gone far enough to crack down on counterfeit and bogus permits."

Key findings from the report:

• 57 percent of the permits in the survey were either legal permits used illegally or illegitimate permits.

• One in four permits surveyed was a fake, suggesting that citywide there are at least 10,000-25,000 fraudulent permits. (That's more fake permits than the 12,000 New York City yellow cabs).

• Manhattan's Civic Center neighborhood led the survey for highest rate of permit abuse; less than 5 percent, or 11 of 244 permits surveyed were being properly used.

Transportation Alternatives has a long history of advocacy for the appropriate use of permits. Totally Bogus: A Study of Parking Permit Abuse in NYC is the organization's third report on the issue. Prior reports inspired Mayor Bloomberg to reduce Department of Education permits by 83 percent and remaining permits by 32 percent, and set up a special enforcement unit to crack down on illegal parking permits.

Council Member Garodnick, who has been the lead sponsor on parking permit reform bills since 2006, introduced the Authentic Permit Act (Intro. 465) earlier this year to ensure authenticity by mandating the use of barcodes on city permits. Today, Transportation Alternatives called for a renewed push to enact the Authentic Permit Act and praised Council Members Garodnick and Leroy Comrie and their colleagues in the City Council for showing leadership on the pressing issue of permit abuse.

"Our report highlights the need for the Authentic Permit Act and New Yorkers will applaud this effort to curtail parking permit abuse," said White. "This legislation will bring relief to communities around the city."

Council Member Garodnick offered his reasons for backing the bill:

"As a matter of safety, congestion and simple fairness, we should not have cars masquerading as official vehicles to park where they please," Garodnick said. "I thank Transportation Alternatives for staying on top of this issue and for supporting a bill that will remove the question about whether a parking permit is legitimate."

The Authentic Permit Act is sponsored by Council Members Daniel R. Garodnick, Margaret S. Chin, Gale A. Brewer, Fernando Cabrera , Daniel Dromm , Lewis A. Fidler, David G. Greenfield, Letitia James, Brad S. Lander, Rosie Mendez, Jumaane D. Williams, Helen D. Foster, Ydanis A. Rodriguez, James F. Gennaro, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., Robert Jackson, James G. Van Bramer, Stephen T. Levin, Michael C. Nelson, and Peter A. Koo.

Founded in 1973, Transportation Alternatives is New York's leading voice on transportation issues and advocates for bicycling, walking and public transit as the best alternatives for a safer, more livable New York

Totally Bogus: A Study of Parking Permit Abuse in NYC can be found online at:
http://transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/2011/totally_bogus.pdf

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