Monday, January 5, 2009

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

12 comments:

Ant said...

So the kid drives daddy's car like an idiot. You don't need special plates for that.

Anonymous said...

isn't there a 3min idling law of 2000bucks.

Anonymous said...

The anonymous letter writer couldn't move her fat butt over to the car and say something to the driver? She took all that time to write that note, take the picture and send it to a blog, yet couldn't take the 15 seconds necessary to say, Yo, move the car!"?

As wrong as that driver was to park there and block traffic, the writer was just as wrong to do nothing.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, no I didn't talk to the driver I went into the store assuming the driver must be just picking someone up for a second, but when I came out 10 minutes later, driver and car were still there and that is the moment someone said something to the driver and I took the picture just before he moved the car. The bigger point here, anonymous, and the one you are missing, is your elected officials and their families taking advantage of the "perk" of special plates. If they can't get their kids to do the right thing and not block the entrance then how can they possibly get anything done in city hall. And this particular elected official aspires to a citywide office. Just something to think about before going into the voting booth this fall.

Anonymous said...

ok so i am an unbiased source although i do know the people involved and it seems tht this "teenager" was waiting fo weprin who WAS in the bank at the time (good job looking for him..next time make sure u no wut the guy looks like cuz he was there) anyways the driver claims he was just waiting 4 weprin and did not realize it was ten minutes nor did he know he was blocking traffic..i inderstand this i mean its not like he was taking advantage of the plates and leaving an unattended car there..it seems weprin drove there and the teenager simply was going to park the car for him but waited there instead. it seems that he moved as soon as he was asked! and i do not think the point of this article makes sense because he was not taking advantage of anything,,it seems this would have happened no matter what the plates were..i am a doctor and lend my car out to my son all the time with my MD plates..their just plates..ehat you want 2 change them every day..its not lik the city was paying for the car so weprin is entitled 2 lend his car out even though on this case it was not the case because weprin drove there..this is a complete misunderstanding it seems!!

Anonymous said...

Stumbling upon this article I find many problems with it. The first that the car has the council plates on it, would you rather them use their car with the council plates or take their plates off and drive that way. Those seem to be the only options you are giving them since I, for sure, do not expect councilman weprin's family to not be able to drive their own car because some people have a problem with the plates.I think the councilman's voting record and all he has accomplished in the city council prove this article wrong. I know come September he has my vote. So get off your high horse and check the facts next time.

Anonymous said...

If you know the people involved you cannot be unbiased.

If I had a doctor who wrote or spelled as poorly as you, I would find another one.

If you are parking in a no standing zone and you have council plates on your car and you are running for citywide office, prepare to be embarrassed.

Anonymous said...

actually..i dont think spelling has much to do with this..this article just kind of made me a bit mad and that has nothing to do with my degree..but alright than! and second i should have specified that i dont know them personally but i know someone who does..sorry about that!

ariela azizo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Oh, I love the inventive excuses! I guess Hiram's not the only one with defenders.

Anonymous said...

I actually happened to be there, I was the white Honda civic. I too was stuck behind Weprin's car and was in a rush to pick my daughter up from her piano lessons...As I was finally able to pass Weprin's car I stopped to get a look, the boy rolled down the window, and kindly explained the car had stalled. It was a simple incident, no need to blow it out of proportion and dissect it to no end just because it was the councilman's son, and car.it could have been anyone, and if it were you would brush this incident off. Also, Councilman David Weprin has done a lot for our district, and deserves his title as well as our votes for next election.

Anonymous said...

I am shocked that one would compare David Weprin to Hiram!!..lets not go crazy here..if you think that David weprin has not done alot for our community you are clearly mistaken and he is definetly the most qualified for the comptroller position, i dont see a reason why this article would change that