Comments on: Eyes on the Street: Madison Square Ped Space Invaded

By: Jordan Hare

Jordan Hare — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:11:13 +0000

Won't we then need a third police department to act as referee?

By: Vroomfondel

Vroomfondel — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:35:00 +0000

How about two competing police departments, so that they can police each other as well as the general public? Current police ethos says that cops don't mess with each other, but with two unrelated departments as well as well-chosen incentives that may change.

By: Think_twice

Think_twice — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:41:17 +0000

Planters, bollards, decoys, moats, tires impaled on spikes as a warning for those foolish enough...

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:10:10 +0000

D.W. Northmore: "If you want more pedestrian spaces, you better provide for public officials."

We've provided them with the best public transit system in the country. The logical next step would be to provide them with a residency requirement.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:28:39 +0000

Just another reason I haven't seen a Zozo yet.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:33:15 +0000

Send this photo to Edward Skyler, Deputy Mayor for Operations.

By: zach

zach — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:24:47 +0000

Assume the placard is probably fake, and that most placards are probably fake.

If the issue is fake placards a wider audience gets behind it.

By: Jielea

Jielea — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:52:50 +0000

Madison square is really a good place. Well, i think Citibank is everywhere. LOL!

By: D.W. Northmore

D.W. Northmore — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:27:37 +0000

I support them parking on pedestrian space, as long as they don't stay for too long. If you want more pedestrian spaces, you better provide for public officials.

By: mjr

mjr — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:26:00 +0000

Seems that in other cities, individual instances of fake parking placard use(and perhaps related types of official-abuse parking violations, like sidewalk parking) are rare enough to merit an article in the city paper:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ward-free-parking-meter-11may11,0,912011.story

Wouldn't it be remarkable if the Times published a Metro article every time a fake placard was used? (Granted, this article was about a local political hack, rather than a civil-service-protected employee, but it's a start).

This was on the Reuters "Oddly Enough" feed - a surprising number of local transportation issues end up there.

By: J-Uptown

J-Uptown — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:03:21 +0000

Bollards.

Why is urgent police business a perfectly legitimate reason to block ped space but not a legitimate reason to block vehicle travel lanes? Just double-park in the travel lane, same as any other street.

By: chriswnw

chriswnw — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:29:39 +0000

You can't nip it in the bud. New Yorkers go where they want. Haven't you seen the videos of pedestrians using your beloved cycle track as a sidewalk extension?

By: W. K. Lis

W. K. Lis — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:16:39 +0000

Don't you know that while everyone is equal, some people are more equal than others.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:16:34 +0000

I'm with Ian: Bollards.

By: Ian Turner

Ian Turner — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:14:28 +0000

Bollards.

By: Liam Patrick

Liam Patrick — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:12:54 +0000

Kaja - I think you're right. I guess my overall point is it's hard to know in a situation like this what kind of reason he had for parking there.

By: ddartley

ddartley — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:12:44 +0000

The circumstances made me think he probably was not on emergency business, and it's conceivable he was. That's one reason I had second thoughts after I sent these pics to Streetsblog.

But parking on sidewalks and other pedestrian spaces is such a destructive--and still quite widespread--problem, and the steps taken against it took a long time to win, and were met with such anger, so I think it's worth it for even this relatively small apparent infraction to get some press, so that that would-be abusers know that the public is still watching, and will continue to. The problem of government cars parking all over pedestrian space shouldn't be forgotten about and therefore allowed to return.

By: David_K

David_K — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:11:27 +0000

I don't know if DOT can do much about this. What we need is a shift in attitude regarding city employees' privileges (going to the root of that word: "private law"): the police have got to be made to follow the law.

Should transgressors be forced to wear humiliating armbands while on duty?
http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/01/03/kitty-justice-the-thai-solution-for-police-parking-placard-abuse/

I think Jello Biafra proposed (when running for mayor of SF) to dress cops in clown suits. Maybe we could put the clown suits on police scoflaws....

By: Kaja

Kaja — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:55:06 +0000

> Provided he was responding to a serious matter

That's either a personal vehicle or an unmarked car. Covert police officers are a wholly separate problem (most of the benefit of policing comes from deterrance, and covert cops don't deter anything at all, rather that's their point, to avoid deterrance so they can ticket folks).

Also note that were it a marked police car, the concerned citizen here wouldn't have been (nearly so) concerned.

By: Liam Patrick

Liam Patrick — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:45:44 +0000

Provided he was responding to a serious matter, I don't think this is such a big problem - provided it remains a highly isolated incident. Sometimes the police actually have to do stuff like this. If this was an issue of his own personal convenience, then yeah, it's shitty on his part.