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From
CBS:
Four parking spaces near Prospect Park in Brooklyn have already been described as a lucrative ticket trap, and now, motorists say authorities have taken it all a step further – booting and towing cars.
Last month, 1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reported on the four spaces at Prospect Park West and 9th Street.
Two signs are mounted overhead, and the bottom sign allows motorists to park there after 1 p.m. But the top sign says, “No standing April 1 to Sept. 30.”
On Sunday, the New York Daily News reported that the city will replace the signs and allow parking year-round in the four spaces. But two days before that, someone tweeted 1010 WINS’ Papa showing cars at the site had been outfitted with the Denver boot.
Police on Friday could not explain why cars would be booted rather than just ticketed.
The Department of Transportation said the signs will be changed next week.
From
CBS 2:
A case of mistaken car identity has led to intense frustration for a Queens woman whose car keeps getting the boot.
As CBS2’s Weijia Jiang reported, when Brigitta Wareham walks to her car, “I have knots in my stomach every time.”
She said she is sick over the thought of having her car booted again.
“I’m mad. I’m worse than frustrated,” she said.
New York City boots cars when owners owe $350 or more in unpaid parking tickets. But Wareham owes nothing.
Yet in less than two years, the Sheriff’s Office has booted her car four times by mistake, Jiang reported.
“I want that clear – by mistake. I didn’t have any tickets, and don’t have any tickets, and they did it by mistake,” Wareham said.
The city’s Department of Finance oversees parking violations. A spokesperson said Wareham is the victim of “human error.”
From the
Queens Courier:
The Smart Boot program, which locks up the cars of ticket scofflaws, hit southern Queens last Monday after being launched in Brooklyn six weeks ago.
Paylock, a parking enforcement company, has city authorization to place a yellow wheel lock on the cars of parking/traffic violators with more than $350 in unpaid fines. The no-bid pilot program, selected by the Bloomberg administration, is an attempt by the city to collect owed money more efficiently.
Aside from collecting at a more efficient rate, the Department of Finance (DOF) and other backers of the program believe the new system will benefit motorists.
“Paylock is open 24/7 for calls while tow companies close at nights and on weekends,” said Owen Stone, a DOF spokesperson. “[Paylock] can send someone to go get the boot off and return it for you.”
Violators are forced to pay a $180 boot fee, $70 sheriff’s fee and a five percent surcharge on top of any unpaid fines. However, the DOF believes this average cost is less than the average cost of the current towing system throughout the city.
From the
Daily News:
Officials on Monday posted a notice seeking companies to provide the hated tire-locking clamps for a pilot program to test the possibility of using them citywide.
Currently, the city tows cars but doesn't use the boot.
Slapping a boot on someone's car may not seem like a customer-friendly move, but scofflaws who owe more than $350 now face the shock of discovering that their car has suddenly vanished - then must make an expensive trip to the tow pound.
Starting later this summer or early fall, the city plans to test a kind of boot that lets drivers pay by credit card over the phone to get an unlock code for the boot.
They would then return the boot to a dropoff location or face another big charge on their credit card.
From
NY1:
Car owners who do not pay their tickets could soon get the boot.
The city is launching a pilot program that uses special self-release boots to immobilize cars whose drivers have racked up more than $350 in unpaid parking tickets.
Instead of having to deal with the inconvenience of having their cars towed, car owners would call a toll-free number and pay their fines by credit card. They would then get a code allowing them to unlock the boot.
Drivers would have to return the device within a preset time limit or face another penalty.
The New York City finance commissioner says he expects a pilot program to begin in the next few months.
