The Truth about NYC Parking...Revealed

A few months ago, I was spending a lovely weekend in Queens (per usual) when I decided to take an afternoon excursion to Continental Ave. to make a quick return. I parked, fed the Muni Meter ticket machine and placed the parking tag in my window. I figured an hour would be enough - I really was only returning something.

Perhaps I should have factored in that my return was at Sephora.

Which of course means that my hour was equivalent to five minutes.

Naturally, I looked at my phone after what I thought could have been no longer than 20 minutes, and realized I was 10 minutes past my meter's expiration. Grabbing my bag which contained more items purchased than returned, I ran to the street only to find a traffic-enforcement-man writing a ticket for the Volvo. I ran up to him and pleaded, but of course, he had already picked up the pen and started writing on his ticket pad, which is apparently an equivalent material to the stone slabs of the 10 Commandments. The traffic violation can NOT be erased nor discarded once written into that sacred pad, how could I have not realized that?

As I was huffing and puffing to no avail, a man stopped at the nearby traffic light saw my dilemma and said, "Hey, just wait until someone comes back to their car and ask if you can have their ticket." Confused, I just stared. He continued, "If you turn in a parking tag that expires after the time on your ticket, they won't debate it."

Genius.

Even the officer had no response to this man's brilliant idea - he merely shrugged and slapped the ticket on my windshield.

Well, I took the stranger's advice and waited outside my car for a few seconds when I noticed the lights go on and the engine start up in a car two in front of mine. I approached it to find a woman and daughter, both with their windows open. Trying not to alarm them, I asked the woman if I could have her parking tag and briefly explained the situation. "As long as I don't have to be involved, sure, here you go," she said as she handed me the tag.

Wielding her tag, which expired an hour later than the time written on the ticket the officer had written me, I had a plan. A few days later, I sent in the traffic ticket along with the parking tag, proving that my meter had NOT yet expired and my ticket had been wrongfully administered. For any non-New Yorkers reading this who might not get it: the parking tags printed at the meter do NOT show any information other than the time of expiry, the date and the meter number. So all parking tags printed by one meter will read the same, the only variable being the hour of expiry, depending on how much time was purchased.

Along with the ticket and tag taken from anonymous woman and daughter, I sent a letter to the NYC parking enforcement office explaining that the officer had made a mistake and must have misread my parking tag.

A few weeks later, I received a letter from the City of New York Parking Adjudication Office saying that they had "reviewed my request" and were offering me a lower fine, $26.00 rather than $35 or $40 (can't remember which, but their offer was about $10 less than the original ticket.) The letter said that if I agreed to this concession, I should send in a check along with the letter, but if I did not accept it and felt I deserved further concessions, I should "do nothing." I would be contacted within the next four to six weeks about whether I would need to appear at traffic court or my ticket would be revoked.

So I did nothing.

Well, sure enough, a few weeks later I received a letter from the same office which said the following:

"This is a determination following a hearing-by-mail on the parking summons listed above. Respondent's general denial of the facts in the summons is supported by documentary evidence. The violation is dismissed. Total amount due = 0."

Victory!

So what's the moral of the story? If you live in New York City or often drive into it's five boroughs, don't be afraid of city parking. And if you do get a ticket and think you have a chance, fight it. And don't give up. Imagine, I could have conceded to the reduced fine and paid $26, fearing that I might have to appear in court or perhaps even pay a higher fine. Instead, I did nothing. Literally. And look what happened. All thanks to the anonymous man and his drive-by advice and the anonymous woman's willingness to part with a worthless little piece of paper that came out of a Muni Meter.