You Can’t Go On Thinking Nothing’s Wrong

With his traffic congestion plan stalled, the mayor makes the unsexy decision to limit city employee parking perks, something that actually might help reduce traffic:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, taking aim at one of the most treasured perks of city employees, announced Thursday that he would reduce by 20 percent the number of parking permits issued to city employees.

The parking placards — given to police officers, teachers and a wide array of city agencies, including the Department for the Aging and the Tax Commission — have long been a source of frustration for drivers and residents in some parts of the city. Not only do those who have them use up parking spaces, but some employees have abused the privilege by double parking or parking illegally in places normally off-limits, like sidewalks and bus stops.

The city cannot even say for certain how many of the permits are in use, because they have been given out by multiple agencies with no central accounting. The city estimates it has distributed about 70,000 placards, but federal and state agencies have issued thousands of their own.

. . .

Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler said the changes were meant to complement the mayor’s push for a congestion pricing plan, which aims to reduce traffic by charging drivers who take their cars into the busiest parts of Manhattan. That plan is being evaluated by a state commission that is studying traffic congestion in Manhattan. Mr. Skyler said a reduction in parking placards is also meant to ease a dearth of parking spaces in areas like Lower Manhattan, where a large number of government workers use the permits to park.

“We felt that 20 percent would be substantial enough to improve parking conditions for residents without impairing agencies’ abilities to operate,” Mr. Skyler said.

“We’re trying to find the right balance between city employees that have a job to do and city residents and people, either who work here or who are frequenting businesses here,” he said. “It’s New York City, and space is at a premium.”

Paul J. Browne, a Police Department spokesman, said the department has issued about 8,000 placards for use by officers on official business and an additional 6,000 placards to other law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and district attorneys offices in New York City. He was unable to say how many permits had been issued to police officers enabling them to park their private cars near precinct houses during their work shifts, but the number would appear to be in the thousands. He said that about 15,500 officers are assigned to precincts around the city.

Mr. Browne said that the department’s contracts with the police unions contain “general language that talks about making efforts to provide parking,” but still gave officials leeway to reduce the number of permits.

Margie Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said the agency had 183 placards for use on official business. But she said that the department itself had issued “tens of thousands” of permits to teachers and school staff members. Those permits allow department employees to park on the street in areas reserved for them during school hours.