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NYC street sweepers should have alternate-side ticket cameras, sanitation commissioner says
By
Sophia Chang
Published Oct 20, 2023
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Chris Melzer/picture alliance via Getty Images
By
Sophia Chang
Published Oct 20, 2023
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New York’s street sweepers should have cameras to ticket car owners who flout the city’s alternate-side parking rules, Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said this week.
The sanitation department’s street sweepers can each remove 1,500 pounds of road garbage a day, Tisch said at a Citizens Budget Commission event on Tuesday. But she said the sweepers “can’t do their jobs as well as they should” because so many cars block their paths.
Tisch said she wants the state vehicle traffic law, which governs the use of cameras for traffic enforcement and fines, to be amended to allow street sweepers to be equipped with cameras that automatically issue tickets to cars that violate alternate-side parking rules.
The cameras would be similar to ones on MTA buses that catch drivers blocking bus lanes.
“This year, I want Albany to pass legislation that will give the Department of Sanitation the authority to put automatic ticketing systems on our street sweepers and do exactly what the MTA has done,” Tisch said. “We really need these cars to move for alternate-side parking."
There's no current proposal in Albany to allow the cameras, and the Senate and Assembly aren't scheduled to return to session until January. A state bill to allow street sweeper cameras was last introduced in 2011 and has since languished in committee.
New Yorkers have honed strategies to avoid alternate-side parking tickets since the policy was introduced in 1950, such as elaborate double-parking dances or waiting in their cars for hours to dodge traffic agents and snag open spots after the street sweepers clear their block.
Andrew Walker, who runs a shuttle service with a large Sprinter van, says he has racked up plenty of tickets across the city for not following alternate-side parking rules. He feared the cameras would ruthlessly enforce the policy.
“I just hope if … somebody's waiting in their car, I hope they give them the opportunity to move out of the way,” Walker said of the cameras. But he also thought automated ticketing would help motivate more drivers to heed the rules.
“I look forward to the alternate-side parking, because then I can get a spot. Because sometimes I need a break, or I don't have to wait in my car all day,” he added.
But another driver said the street sweeping system should be reformed to clean around parked cars, instead of spending money on cameras and issuing more tickets.
“Maybe they need to get another way to clean the street besides using a big a-- truck,” said James Pettigrew, who has to move his car four times a week in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Syed Rahim, president of the CWA Local 1182 union that represents NYPD traffic enforcement agents, said his members can exercise discretion in a way that cameras cannot.
If a traffic agent sees that “the motorist is sitting in front of the driver’s seat, they say, ‘could you please move, otherwise you can get a ticket,’" Rahim said.
Councilmember Robert Holden sponsored a bill last year to set up the camera program, which will include review of all photographic footage by sanitation staff, once the state grants approval.
Holden acknowledged that some drivers may balk at the prospect of automated ticketing, but suggested the city could build an app allowing people to see where the street sweepers are through GPS locators instead of wasting hours to nab a coveted parking spot.
“As soon as the sweeper goes by, they can park there,” Holden said. An app could “help a lot of people moving cars, because it's a big issue.”
“Our goal is not to punish. Our goal is obviously to have cleaner streets,” he added.
Tagged
new york city
sanitation
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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