The New York Trucking and Delivery Association prevailed in its five-year battle over parking tickets.
New York City’s Law Department agreed on May 19 to pay $14 million to resolve a lawsuit that NYTDA had filed in federal court in Brooklyn alleging that commercial delivery trucks were improperly issued parking tickets.
NYTDA alleged that city officials had violated the Stipulated Fine Program that allows trucks to double park legally while making deliveries outside the boundaries of 14th Street to 60th Street and First Avenue to Eighth Avenue.
Under the 12-year-old program, a double-parking ticket can be issued only if there is an open parking space within 100 feet of the truck or if it’s double parked for more than 30 minutes without visible activity. However, NYTDA said $40 tickets for obstructing a traffic lane began to be written in June 2006. Tickets from that date through Oct. 31, 2010, will be repaid. The settlement still must be approved by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis.
“We believe the proposed settlement is in the best interest of all parties,” Law Department spokesman Nick Paolucci said.
“This is the most money ever returned at one time to parking ticket recipients by New York City,” NYTDA CEO Ken Thorpe told Transport Topics. “Hopefully, it will send a message to the city. Tickets should be issued for real violations. Tickets are not a tool to manipulate or drive revenue, especially to this industry that literally drives the economy. Trucking and Delivery has been a wrongful and damaging target of traffic enforcement.”
