Bloomberg: Grace Period Won’t Result in Fewer Tickets

David Seifman reports: A five-minute grace period for motorists who run overtime at parking meters won’t result in fewer summonses, just higher costs to the city in processing them, Mayor Bloomberg contended yesterday. Still smarting over a bill that the City Council was about to enact into law over his veto, the mayor said confusion over the new rules was bound to lead to more challenges to tickets.”We’re going to give the same number of tickets,” he said on his weekly radio show. “Only it’s going to cost us a lot of money in [drivers] fighting all of them.”

The council is expected to override his veto on Dec. 21.

Drivers would get an extra five minutes at Muni-Meters and at parking spots with signs that have posted hours.

“Now everybody who gets a ticket is going to go before a judge and say, ‘Oh, you weren’t there. My meter ran out only four minutes before I got the ticket.’ ” Bloomberg said, insisting that the law, as written, applies to all parking meters.

Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), the bill’s sponsor, said it is clear only Muni-Meters are covered.

{NY Post/Matzav.com Newscenter}