Sunday, January 26, 2014

Out-of-state plate legislation being introduced in Albany

From The Forum:

Assemblyman Mike Miller (D-Woodhaven) has a message for drivers wielding out-of-state license plates who are hogging parking spaces on the street: Your time is up.

The lawmaker is introducing a bill this week in Albany that aims to “stop the abuse of the registration of out-of-state vehicles in all our communities.”

The bill, which Miller expects to soon have corresponding legislation in the state Senate, would prohibit vehicles with out-of-state license plates to park on the street between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. daily.

“We know some people are fortunate to own homes out of state, so there’ll be exemptions for them, and you’ll be able to get a pass for families from out of state,” Miller said “We don’t want to curtail tourists from coming in, so people can buy a pass for a specific period of time through the DMV.”

Saying that the idea behind the bill is that “parking is difficult and we all pay for that privilege,” Miller said he believes the bill will help residents find the often elusive street parking – as well as ensure that the state receives money it deserves from registrations.

“There are a lot of cars with out-of-state plates,” Miller said. “Out of every 50 cars, I’m sure you have five or six cars that have them.”


Five or six? More like 20 or 25. There are days when I walk down my block and there are more out-of-state plates than NY plates on the cars.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

You really think 40-50% of cars parked on the street citywide are from out of state crappy? Even 5% sounds too high honestly. Sure, some neighborhoods it's much higher, but average city wide probably isn't that high. If it is, I'd love to see some research to support the assertion.

And what's with the exemption for people who own homes out of state?

Queens Crapper said...

In 1987, it was investigated and estimated that 10% of city cars were registered out of state. Do you really think the number has gone down since then? When I was a kid NO ONE on my street had an out of state plate. Now I've observed that about half the cars parked do.

Not sure what owning a home out of state gets an exemption, but this is a step in the right direction.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. Fair enough.

To further help with on street parking, the city should move to a permit system too.

Anonymous said...

It's about time.

However, the exemptions might prove to be highly problematic and will likely require a lot of due diligence (something NYC is not good at historically).

Although they have their own set of problems, perhaps it's time for the City to consider neighborhood residential parking permits. Other cities have done this already.

Still, I applaud Mike Miller's efforts.

Anonymous said...

There are tons on seniors wit Florida plates in Queens. In the summer every second car has a Florida plate.

They don't all have second homes there - they rent a condo for 2 months in the winter.

You will also see lots of PA plates in the Spanish neighborhoods. Insurance is much cheaper there.

Anonymous said...

Maybe some are NY residents who think they can save on auto insurance by registering the car in a different state.

R185 said...

I understand and agree with the goal, but sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare that the City would not be able to pull off.

Anonymous said...

DOES THIS INCLUDE CROWLEY!!!!!!!!

Joe Moretti said...

Will this in the end help the parking problem, I am not sure, because some of those same cars will still be parked there, but I know there are tons of these cases in Jamaica and some of these cars sit for weeks on end, so I think there is something else going on to with these out of state plates, beside cheaper insurance. Also if you own a home in another state and it is NOT your primary residence, then you get a pass, but not if it is your secondary one.

The community parking permit is a good idea, it has been in place in my old hometown out of state since the 70's and it works well.

There also needs to be a change in the laws that when one tears down a 1-2 family house and then puts a multi-family dwelling up and it is over 4 families, that it must contain legal parking spaces or garages, otherwise it does not get built.

Let's face it, there is a parking problem, because too many people are being crammed in an area that is not made to handle all those extra people.

But at least Miller is actually addressing this issue as opposed to most leaders who pretty much just ignore quality of life issues.

Queens Crapper said...

This isn't a problem for the city to pull off because it will be a state law if passed.

Anonymous said...

While it sounds like a good idea in theory, it would probably be a nightmare. How would incoming tourists know they'll need to get a permit? Sure my sister coming from out of town would know because I'd tell her, but what about Joe Schmo that's coming here for the first time. Would they buy it online and print it out? Get it in the mail? Could you get it instantly? What happens if you have an emergency and need to be in the city - death in the family, illness and you need to be with someone? What would qualify as an emergency? Either way, there's a new business to police - counterfeit parking permits. If there are exceptions for people who also have homes out of state, doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of this? If they can get an out of state plate on their car, they'll be able to come up with enough proof they can be exempt.

Nice thought, but I think it's probably more of a nightmare.

Anonymous said...

Even if you own a home out of state but reside in NY, you're still committing insurance fraud. Register your car at your legal residence and where it will be used most of the time.

Queens Crapper said...

How do tourists know about the rest of our laws? Parking permits will most likely be scannable and purchasable online

carless said...

@ Joe Moretti

While the city will occasionally issue exemptions, outside of the Manhattan core there are off street parking requirements. (In the Manhattan core there are parking maximums - too many cars driving around already, doesn't make sense to make room for more) If you create a residential permit parking system, then it is easy enough to control how many cars are able to park on the street. These permits could be given away to current residents (one per unit, any surplus after that auctioned off maybe), then renewed annually for some small administrative fee, or sold as its owner sees fit. Once all the available permits have been distributed, new residents would have to buy one of the existing permits if they want to park on the street. This would allow those who can live without a car to not have to pay for parking. Given that garage parking typically costs $20,000-$50,000 per space to construct, this is a non trivial cost. I realize that many developments rent out their limited parking spaces, but given the currently free alternative of parking on the street, few would be willing to pay the actual cost of the space, so they are rented out well below cost.

Anonymous said...

If Joe Crowley can have out of state plates registered to his home in Virginia, then it should be good enough for the rest of us. Has anyone heard of Free Enterprise? New York is an expensive city. People have to make ends meet. If insurance is cheaper in another state and is available for purchase, you have a right to purchase it. Yes, the people of New York are getting ripped off with higher insurance, but you can't blame someone for trying to make ends meet. The bigger picture in all of this is Overdevelopment. There's no place to park, and people get pissed when they see out of state plates. Get your politicians to lobby the auto insurance market for lower rates in New York. Tell them to stop lining their pockets with developer money. As far as I know, there's no law against purchasing insurance out of state.

Queens Crapper said...

Free enterprise? The law states that you must register your car in-state within 30 days of moving here. It's the same in most other states. It's illegal to live in one place and register your car somewhere else. It's called insurance fraud.

Queens Crapper said...

Residential parking permits are also a good idea. You couldn't obtain one with an out-of-state plate!

Anonymous said...

How about cracking down on the proliferation of "official" parking placards. Why can't they have a barcode or other unique identifier that parking enforcement agents can scan to see if the placard matches the car of the person to which it was issued?

And while we're at it, why are there so many "official" license plates? Why does the fleet of vehicles from the Queens Public Library - which, as it states on its website, is "an independent, not-for-profit corporation" - have "official" license plates, which exempt them from parking restrictions/fines? Why does a private corporation get government plates? The trucks and sedans take up all of the spots on 90th Avenue around the Central Library, including the side of the street which prohibits parking during the day, making it hard for buses to navigate the street. Years ago, all of their vehicles were parked in their driveway/loading dock area - and now they have the same number of branches and a smaller staff ... but I guess they have more administrators who need sedans?

Anonymous said...

Queens Crapper said... "It's called insurance fraud."
Yes it is but it's the insurance industry who is at fault. They just raise the rates of the honest car owner and the cheaters just keep getting away with fraud.

Anonymous said...

Queens Crapper said... "It's called insurance fraud."
Yes it is but it's the insurance industry who is at fault. They just raise the rates of the honest car owner and the cheaters just keep getting away with fraud.


How would the insurance industry crack down? If the person has a second house in, for example, Pennsylvania and uses that mailing address for his/her insurance policy and his/her driver's license, what could they do about it? I think it's more of a state/DMV issue.

Anonymous said...

It's the insurance company who should ask where do you live and where do you work and charge the proper rates. If people lie only technology will catch them. GPS units in all cars will be the wave of the very near future.

Anonymous said...

Anybody want to bet this bill goes nowhere?

Anonymous said...

Hey Dope.....

How about people parking on NYC streets with registrations outside of NYC?

Anonymous said...

Otto and 69th Place. No less than six cars nightly on this block, all with Penn plates.

I'm sure they just 'visit' every night for the last five years.

Anonymous said...

Why is this guy always dressed in black?

Anonymous said...

Chicago uses neighborhood permits. Residents also buy a package of overnight guest permits for their OVERNIGHT GUESTS.

It works just fine out there because people are more civilized in the rest of the country.

Of course here we'd immediately have a new counterfeiting opportunity.

Anonymous said...

Insurance rates are the BIG issue, IMO... I'd say the biggest problem-states are North Carolina and PA. As to registration, ever notice how the second your inspection sticker expires you get a ticket? Do something like that for out-of-state vehicles - something like orange expires in December, and this is January, so orange means you're expired.

Back in the early 80s Vermont was the big source of out-of-state/NYC vehicles... and one VT agent was busted: turned out hundreds of people lived at the same address - a phony for paperwork purposes.

Do PA and NC have easier residency requirements for registering a car? it seems that most drivers may not be documented - Russian, Mexican...

Anonymous said...

How about having a system that checks things out like your car in registerd in SC but you work in NYC. EXPLAIN YOURSELF! There are several cars on my block with PA plates for years and there are several cars with MD and SC plates every day in the parking lot at work.

Anonymous said...

I think the insurance companies should pay a bounty to people who submit photos of cars with out-of-state plates parked on NYC streets.

Anonymous said...

Hey didn't Andrew say they should leave the state? So, why are their cars here?

Anonymous said...

we have this problem here in Staten Island. I'm currently disputing the spaces in front of my house even though it's free street parking because the people taking it up have out of state plates and they do not live out of state. I pay New York state taxes, they do not, yet I cannot park on my own street

Anonymous said...

I know you saw the idea of passes for vehicles that was my idea to Mayor Bloomberg... plain and simple these people need to pay for years of fraud and any person who does not belong to this country who has a green card and they fraud they need to be deported a lot of these people are using their family members addresses and they should be reported and fined because they know they were using the vehicle to come back here to Ny....

Anonymous said...

there are a lot of people who have nice jobs and have out of state plates and they live here in New York there is no excuse for you to have an out of state plate car and you live here in New York City if you can afford two houses you can afford two cars one for their and one here the reason why I feel this way is because I was in an accident two times with out of state plates vehicles... Florida plates and the guy had New York license it was his family members, but the insurance didn't want to honor it and that's why they should stop out of state plate vehicles not from parking 2 to 5 but from 9 at night to 8 in the morning and as far as business pass only a months and then after that you gotta be outta here with that car for at least 3 months they' ll change those plates and fly right... and what's up with these little DMV stores on Utica Avenue with out of state plates they give you any plates you want from any State...?

Anonymous said...

Who can verify if the out-of-state plates are good or fake?
In my block a lot of them looks fake and some of the cars don't have plates. (Woodside, NY)