Cash-Strapped New York City To Eliminate Plea Bargaining Parking Tickets

Cash-Strapped New York City To Eliminate Plea Bargaining Parking Tickets

Move Will Generate $50 Million, But One Lawmaker Calls The Idea Misguided

November 10, 2011 5:29 PM

 

Parking Ticket (credit: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A cherished parking ticket perk is about to bite the dust — the victim of hard times right here in New York City.

Gotham is putting the brakes on a program that gives parking scofflaws a break.

“We’re facing a $4.5 billion budget deficit next year,” Finance Commissioner David Frankel said.

And so hard times here [in] the city means illegal parkers will have to pay full freight. Gone is the automatic discount for agreeing not to fight a summons in court. The program was instituted to reduce a big backlog of ticket appeals. It’s now gone.

Under the program, Manhattan violators could automatically get a $65 ticket reduced to $43 and outer borough residents got their $45 ticket reduced to $32.

“If the choice is between potentially firing cops or firefighters or eliminating other vital services as opposed to eliminating a program that benefits people who park illegally it’s a pretty simple choice,” Frankel said.