Establishes a parking placard review board

• Democratic1

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Erik Bottcher says this is needed

In New York City, parking placards are routinely issued by city, state and federal entities, affording holders the benefit of convenient and free parking. According to the 2018 Fix NYC Advisory Panel report, New York City has issued about 160,500 placards. The fact that such a high number of placards are handed out contributes significantly to congestion in the city. As a result, more people are driving into the city, clogging streets, increasing traffic levels and exacerbating the already existent issue of congestion. Efforts must be made to curb the levels of congestion in the city and not to maintain a scheme which exacerbates it further. New York City has made some efforts to address the problem, including enacting legislation to require a five year placard use plan, reporting on the number of summons issued in the city for placard abuse, evaluat- ing specific areas throughout the city to identify illegal parking and increasing fines for fraudulent use of placards. However, additional measures must be taken to truly ameliorate the impact that rampant plac- ard misuse has had upon congestion. It is critical that there be collab- oration among the relevant city, state and federal players to find a solution to this predicament. This bill creates a parking placard review board, which will have city, state and federal representation, tasked with reviewing the, impact of parking placard use. The board will issue a final report and make recom- mendations regarding the impact of parking placards upon congestion and shall establish criteria for the retention of existing placards and the distribution of new placards. It shall consider factors including how often placards are misused, how often complaints related to placards are received, the effectiveness of any efforts that have already been imple- mented to address this issue, and enforcement of penalties. The factors that the board must consider incorporate recommendations laid out in 2018 reports issued by Fix NYC and the Metropolitan Transportation Sustainability Advisory Workgroup. Creating a review board as set out in this bill is a necessary measure towards gaining an accurate picture of the true impact of placard use, ensuring accountability, identifying effective solutions and eventually, improving congestion levels.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.