Machine membership has its privileges

"I pulled into the back parking lot of a small shopping center located at the corner of 73rd Avenue and 188th Street, and traffic was backing up trying to pull in. Just inside the entrance to the lot is a fire lane along the back entrances of the stores and people were having difficulty coming into the lot because a car was parked right there, blocking one side of the entryway. Other cars were coming out of the lot onto busy 73rd Avenue, so they stop there to look for traffic, and that takes a while. There was no room to pull around this car parked in the fire lane because of the exiting cars. Consequently, traffic backed up. When my husband and I could finally get around this car, lo and behold it had a City Council plate with C.D. 23 on it!! David Weprin's car!

Behind the wheel of his car was a teenage boy, I am assuming it was Weprin's son. He could have parked the car. He could have at least moved up a bit so as not to block the parking lot entrance, but he just sat there. I observed him there for at least 10 minutes. He was right behind the Citi Bank. My husband went into Citi Bank to do some banking and he said he did not see David Weprin in there. Maybe it was his wife in the bank? Anyway, it seems that Councilman Weprin was nowhere to be seen, so it must be concluded that he lets his family members drive the car with the council plates.

When we exited the parking lot I asked my husband to pull over to a parking spot on the street so I could get a better picture of the rear of the car and the traffic back-up it was causing. As I got out to do this, 2 men came out of Citi Bank and noticing the backed up traffic and the cars honking, they yelled at the teenager in the car to move it! He moved the car and unfortunately, I lost the opportunity to take the picture from that angle.

I am sure that it is not appropriate for family of a council member to drive the car with the special council plates, and it is downright arrogant and inconsiderate to have the car idling in a fire lane, blocking traffic AND creating a dangerous situation with the cars lining up down the street trying to get into the parking lot. One would think that a council member and his family (especially one who is running for citywide office) would behave in a more considerate manner especially when it affects that council member's constituents! But alas, that is apparently not the case. Several months ago I saw a car with Councilmember Eric Gioia's council plates on it. This car was double parked in front of a row of stores, at night, right near a firehouse. Councilmember Gioia was nowhere to be seen.

Apparently many members of the New York City Council feel that the special council plate on their cars is also a special pass to park illegally, unsafely and inconsiderately!" - anonymous