CITYWIDE — A parking enforcement device the city banned 13 years ago could soon return.
The New York City Council on Tuesday passed a bill allowing the city’s departments of Sanitation and Transportation to stick 8.5-by-11-inch adhesive stickers on motor vehicles’ windows to enforce Alternate Side Parking rules. The Council vote was 41-10.
The bill does not become law until the mayor signs it, or if he takes no action.
The last time DSNY was allowed to sticker cars was 2012, when the Council banned the lime-yellow stickers because they were almost impossible to remove, and because they “shamed” drivers before they had their day in court, Gothamist reported at that time. They could also obstruct vision.
Since the ban, however, alternate-side violations have multiplied, and street-cleaning vehicles are often unable to sweep up debris and leaves, leading to garbage-strewn streets and clogged storm drains.
The legislation “undoes a grave mistake made by a prior City Council,” Sanitation Commissioner Gregory Anderson testified before the City Council on May 19. DSNY estimates that more than 500,000 vehicles violate Alternate Side Parking rules each week, preventing sweepers from properly cleaning over 3,000 miles of city streets.
The Upper East Side’s Gale Brewer is lead sponsor of the bill. “Warning stickers were one of the city’s most effective tools for improving compliance before they were banned in 2012,” she said in a release. She called it “a practical, common-sense step that will help keep our streets cleaner for everyone.”
Other sponsors included Farah Lewis (Flatbush, Midwood); Shahana Hanif (Carroll Gardens, Park Slope); Chris Banks (East New York, Brownsville) and Carl Wilson (West Village, Chelsea).
This the easier-to-remove sticker used when the NYPD “boots” an illegally-parked vehicle. This sticker was seen on a car in Brooklyn Heights on Wednesday. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle
Mixed feelings in Brooklyn
The struggle to keep the streets clean is a frequent topic during Brooklyn’s 84th Precinct Community Council meetings, where locals from Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO have described running out to clear clogged storm drains themselves before heavy rains.
“I enthusiastically support every policy that increases compliance with alternate side parking rules,” area Councilmember Lincoln Restler told the Brooklyn Eagle. “We’ve pushed hard for cameras on street sweepers, booting and towing serial offenders, and increasing fines to keep our streets clean and rat-free. Hopefully, the return of stickers will boost ASP compliance.”
But some car owners feel going back to the stickers — especially if they are difficult to remove — is uncalled for.
“It sounds punitive, way too aggressive, destructive and unnecessary,” Garry Nichols, a car-owning artist with a studio in Greenpoint, wrote in a text to the Eagle. “Getting a (fine) on your car for illegal parking should be enough penalty, I would say.”
May not be the same sticker
An easier-to-remove sticker (hint: hair dryer plus rubbing alcohol) is currently used by the New York Police Department’s traffic enforcement when agents “boot” an illegally-parked vehicle.
DSNY spokesperson Vincent Gragnani told the Eagle that the modern-day version of the ASP stickers may also be easier to remove.
Should the bill become law, implementation details are still to be determined, Gragnani said, adding, “It is likely that stickers would not require any special solvents — just a scraper and some warm water would get them off cleanly.”
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