Complaints to the city’s 311 line about blocked bike or transit lanes that endanger pedestrians and people on bikes are frequently closed without resolution.
An analysis of over 500 illegal parking complaints submitted to New York City’s 311 service reveals “inconsistent, and in some cases non-existent” enforcement for safety-related violations.
As David Meyer explains in Streetsblog NYC, these include blocked bike lanes and fire hydrants. NYPD issued just 16 tickets after investigating 558 complaints, a rate almost four times smaller than the overall ticket issuance rate for 311. “Despite the slew of complaints, many locations saw hours of rampant illegal parking, often by delivery trucks turning travel lanes and no parking zones into ‘mobile logistics hubs’ and ‘de facto parking lots.’”
According to the researchers who conducted the study, “The high rate of complaints closed while illegal parking was still occurring, combined with the low rate of ticket issuance, suggests a systemic failure in addressing this issue.”
The findings indicate a lack of concern for the safety issues posed by illegal parking. “In some cases, police have actually harassed and threatened members of the public for submitting complaints about illegal parking to 311.”
Read the full story: Study Exposes NYPD’s ‘Systemic Failure’ To Enforce Safety-Related Parking Violations
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