If you operate or depend on trucks in New York City as part of your business, there are a slew of proposed changes relating to parking rules and hearings that you need to be aware of:
4/29/19-New York City Council Hearing (1PM City Hall). This is an oversight hearing on the Department of Finance’s (Finance) Parking Violations Bureau (PVB). For copies of the proposed bills, click here. A summary of the bills is as follows:
- Int 0122-2018 (Lander)- The monetary threshold for the removal of motor vehicles for the purposes of satisfying parking violation judgments would increase from $350 to $500 dollars. Also, motor vehicles could be removed for the purpose of satisfying parking violation judgments where there are more than five parking violations.
- Int 0661-2018 (Rodriguez)- Finance would be required to issue a biannual report on the number of motor vehicles towed (assuming booted as well) to satisfy an outstanding judgment for parking violations. This maintains the $350 monetary threshold.
- Int 1066-2018 (Lancman)- Judges at the PVB would be granted the discretion to reduce or waive additional penalties in the interest of justice, penalties for failure to respond to a notice of a violation for parking violations.
- Int 1141-2018 (Constantinides)- This would eliminate the stipulated fine and commercial abatement programs, prohibit similar such programs from being enacted, and force companies to contest every violation at a PVB hearing (except for tickets administratively dismissed due to defects).
- T2019-4195 (Dromm)- Finance would have to report on the operations of the PVB, including specific information about number and types of parking violations issued, PVB’s efficiency of collection of parking violations penalties, the adjudication efficiency and outcomes.
5/1/19- The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) hearing (1PM Bid Room at 55 Water Street). DOT is proposing the following changes to the traffic rules and regulations
The below is taken directly from DOT’s proposed changes:
- Section 4-08(f)(1) is amended to clarify double parking restrictions.
- Section 4-08(l)(1) is REPEALED in its entirety.
- Sections 4-08(l)(2) and 4-08(l)(3)(i) are amended to expand the area where double parking is prohibited from 8th Avenue to 12th Avenue.
New material is underlined.
[Deleted material is in brackets.]
Section 1. Paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of section 4-08 of Chapter 4 of Title 34 of the Rules of the City of New York is amended to read as follows:
(1) Double parking. On the roadway side of a vehicle stopped, standing, or parked at the curb, except a person may stand a commercial vehicle alongside a vehicle parked at the curb at such locations and during such hours that stopping, standing, or parking is not prohibited, for no more than 20 minutes, while [expeditiously] actively engaged inmaking pickups, deliveries or service calls, provided that there is no unoccupied parking space or designated loading zone on [either] the same side of the street within [100 feet] the same block that can be used for such standing, and provided further that such standing is in compliance with the provisions of §1102 of the State Vehicle and Traffic Law. A person may stand a commercial vehicle along the roadway side of a bicycle lane provided all other conditions of this paragraph are met. No person shall double park a commercial vehicle when it blocks the only lane of travel in the same direction. No person shall stand, stop or park a vehicle on a street, at any time in such a manner or under such conditions as to leave fewer than 10 feet of roadway width available for the free movement of vehicular traffic.No person may stand a commercial vehicle in or along the roadway side of a bus lane, unless otherwise indicated by posted signs, markings or other traffic control devices, or at the direction of a law enforcement officer or other person authorized to enforce this rule. [For the purposes of this paragraph (f)(1), “expeditiously making pick-ups, deliveries or service calls” shall mean that any period of inactivity at the pick-up, delivery or service-call location does not exceed 30 minutes. However, such definition shall in no way limit the discretion of the Department of Finance Adjudication Tribunal to determine whether a violation of this paragraph has occurred.]
- 2. Paragraph (1) of subdivision (l) of section 4-08 of Chapter 4 of Title 34 of the Rules of the City of New York is REPEALED and a new paragraph (1) is added to read as follows:
(l) [Blue zone, m] Midtown, and other special zones.
[(1) Blue zone.
No person shall park a vehicle upon any of the streets within the area designated as the “Blue Zone,” Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., except as otherwise posted along the perimeter of and inside the designated area, or when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with law or upon the direction of any law enforcement officer authorized to enforce these rules. Said area is bounded by the northern property line of Frankfort Street, the northern property line of Dover Street, the eastern property line of South Street, the western property line of State Street, the centerline of Broadway, and the centerline of Park Row.]
(1) Reserved.
- 3. Paragraphs (2) and subparagraph (i) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (l) of section 4-08 of Chapter 4 of Title 34 of the Rules of the City of New York are amended to read as follows:
(2) Special midtown rule: method of parking. Except where otherwise restricted, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily, except Sundays, from 14th to 60th Streets, 1st to [8th] 12thAvenues, all inclusive, in the Borough of Manhattan, no operator of a vehicle or combination of vehicles used for transportation of merchandise shall stop, stand, or park in any of the streets herein designated, other than parallel and close to the curb, and beoccupyingno more than [ten] 10feet of roadway space from the nearest curb, and in no case shall any such vehicle be backed in at an angle to the curb.
(3) Special midtown rule: standing time limit.
(i) Between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., daily except Sundays, from 14th to 60th Streets, 1st to [8th] 12thAvenues, all inclusive, in the Borough of Manhattan no operator shall stand a vehicle or combination of vehicles for the purpose of making pickups, deliveries or service calls in any one block of streets herein designated for a period of more than three hours unless otherwise posted, A vehicle or combination of vehicles not being used for expeditious pickups, deliveries or service calls is deemed to constitute a parked vehicle subject to parking rules applicable to that particular location.
This should not be a hard and fast, one size fits all rule. Some deliveries can be done in twenty minutes or less, but many can’t. That’s why “expeditious” makes sense. This proposed rule change does not account for the practical ways in which deliveries and service calls are made, allowing commerce to flow. It is also egregious to claim that this is about attacking congestion, when, the true culprits of congestion (overdevelopment, the removal of parking and travel lanes, and the explosion of For Hire Vehicles) are not addressed at all. The new double parking changes look to be yet another money grab by the city on those who can least afford it. There is something more important to consider though, especially as it relates to the possible end of the stipulated fine program and changes to double parking. Repeatedly, New York has failed to provide adequate space for commercial vehicles, which is understandable considering the finite space and 24/7 nature of the city. Things like the double parking regulations and stipulated fine & commercial abatement programs, though far from perfect, provided somewhat reasonable compromises while serving as an acknowledgment that dedicated commercial spaces needed to keep this city running would not be forthcoming. To eliminate these compromises while providing no viable alternatives is reprehensible.
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