Seniors can’t handle newfangled muni-meters

May 15, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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Bay Ridge reps say old folks need help with city’s new toys

By Brooklyn Eagle Staff

BAY RIDGE — Those new muni-meters are just too darn complicated for senior citizens and the city should cut them some slack.

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“Have you ever tried to work one of these?” asked Al Asfazadour, president of a Bay Ridge chapter of the AARP. “They’re very complicated.”

 

State Sen. Marty Golden and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis said they are sponsoring bills in their respective legislative houses, to expand a city law that gives motorists a five-minute grace period in which to get a parking receipt from a muni-meter.

If the time stamped on the muni-meter receipt is within five minutes of the time the summons is issued, the motorist would have a weapon to use to get the ticket dismissed, Malliotakis said.

 

The goal is to protect drivers from overeager traffic enforcement agents who pounce on them, Malliotakis said. Often, a motorist will park the car, walk to a muni-meter to purchase a parking receipt, and receive an unhappy surprise when they return to the vehicle, she said.

 

“In the time they get back to the car, they’ve received a summons,” she said.

 

In some cases, there aren’t that many muni-meters on an avenue, according to Malliotakis, who said a driver has to “walk to the next block.”

 

That gives the enforcement agent more time to issue the summons, she said.

 

“There are many senior citizens in this community. Obviously, seniors take much longer to get out of their car and walk to a muni-meter,” Malliotakis said.

 

“Regulations must take into account that we don’t always get a parking spot right next to a muni-meter machine. While there are many benefits to muni-meters, they have created a new opportunity for motorists to receive unwarranted parking tickets,” Golden said.

 

“We have a very large senior population,” he said, explaining that older drivers often need more time to figure out the workings of the muni-meter.


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