Queens Center Mall caught using bogus 'no parking' signs

From the Daily News:

Parking attendants at a Queens mall have been caught red-handed posting phony no-parking signs on street meters that lure drivers into their garage.

The neon-hued signs were marked with an NYPD emblem and taped to meters outside the garage entrance of the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst.

The signs may have looked official, but they're not, said NYPD spokesman Sgt. Carlos Nieves.

"The precinct was not aware that these signs were being put up," he said in response to inquiries from the Daily News. "The only people that are allowed to put these signs up are the NYPD."

The bogus signs, often reinforced by traffic cones and sawhorses, blocked off 12two-hour meters on 57th Ave. They often appeared on holidays and especially Sundays, when metered parking is free, angry shoppers said.

Queens Center Mall spokeswoman Dawn Simon said eliminating street parking was meant to "facilitate traffic flow" during the mall's busiest days.

Garage employees began posting them in 2004 with police approval when the mall was expanding, she said. But when construction ended at the end of that year, so did the validity of the signs.

"Initially, the signage was provided by the Police Department," Simon said. "Rather than have them re-issue the signs over and over, we created signs."

Officers from the 110th Precinct have since informed garage employees that the signs should be taken down, Nieves said.

"We have discontinued them," Simon said. "We will not be putting the signs up anymore."