Since the placard abuse issue has come to the front of people's minds, I've been keeping a closer eye on how police cars behave. Seems like just about every day I notice one blowing through a red light, and not with lights and sirens on to indicate an emergency, but just apparently because the driver decided "screw it, I don't feel like waiting." One time I almost got hit while crossing Tillary Street (with a walk signal) by one of them.

I wonder if a good answer to that would be to use some portion of the Kheel surplus to create a more reliable paratransit system. This could ultimately be a big win for low income folks who are having to carry the expense of a car in order to keep up their doctors visits.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=4186220&page=1

Simmons doesn't appear to be in legal jeopardy despite breaking the rules to score prime parking spots, authorities said.

"The placard seems, in this case, to be the responsibility of the officer, and DOC [Department of Correction] has already retrieved it from the officer," Morello said.

Maybe someone is confusing this with Bloomberg's efforts to make gun dealers responsible for gun crimes. Do we need to remind the City that we also prosecute the shooters, too.

The City ought to recall every placard, and issue new ones that look nothing like the old ones. And then create a CCRB equivalent to do the enforcement, so we don't have to worry about the "we don't ticket our own" nonsense. Maybe we can even turn it into a reality TV show, with all the royalties going to transit improvements.