The NYC Parking Ticket Struggle
The city created a new parking summons advocate position to help drivers with their parking ticket struggles, and let’s be real, we know they have a lot of them. If you own a car in New York City, it goes without saying that you will get a parking ticket at some point. It’s easy to forget to move your car for alternate side parking. Let’s also not talk about those confusing parking signs. Even worse, you can be one of the unfortunate drivers who actually get a ticket for parking legally. When it comes down to it, getting one is only a matter of time.
Nevertheless, there may be no greater unifier among New Yorkers than their aggravation with the city’s parking ticket system. Drivers from across the city often feel they have reasons to believe that the city purposefully buries residents and businesses under a blizzard of tickets. To make matters worse, drivers often feel left in the cold and dust with little help in dealing with them. Sometimes, they are forced to find out how to pay or fight their parking tickets on there own. Here in this city, drivers feel like they have to be their own parking summons advocate. That may now potentially change.
The Parking Ticket Maze
New Yorkers have long known that the way the city handles parking tickets is often complex and burdensome. But when the city has to hire a “parking summons advocate” that’s when you know the problem is real. The city realizes this and has subsequently decided to extend more resources to helping New Yorkers handle their parking tickets. One way they seek to do this is by creating a new position in the Department of Finance. Many drivers don’t know but this is the agency that handles, collects and processes parking tickets and fines in NYC. The position is exclusively dedicated to helping NYC drivers understand the complexities that define the whole parking ticket experience. Let’s take a look at what exactly this position does.
The New NYC Parking Summons Advocate
In 2015, the NYC Department of Finance Commissioner Jacques Jiha said, “If you are going to have your hand in people’s pockets, do it with a smile”, when the city created its taxpayer advocate position. Subsequently, it seems like the DOF is sticking to those words. The city agency recently announced that it seeks to do the same thing it did with taxes. Now, the goal is to put a kinder, friendlier face on its Parking Violations Bureau (PVB) with the appointment of a Parking Summons Advocate. The position evolved for the department’s need to improve customer service and develop a system to support NYC drivers. According to the city, the advocate will also seek out and identify systemic issues with the city’s parking summonses practices and processes.
So What Does the Parking Summons Advocate Actually Do?
The first person to fill the parking summons advocate position is a former courtroom lawyer named Jean Wesh. Wesh believes that his years of experience in the courtroom will serve him well when dealing with angry violation recipients. His main directive is to help NYC drivers who are already flustered by their parking tickets and need help figuring out what to do. The parking summons advocate will also have the task of educating New Yorkers about policies and procedures relating to parking summonses. Ultimately, they will act as a liaison between the public and the Department of Finance. Wesh is currently running a pilot program out of the Department of Finance business centers in Queens and the Bronx. Wesh, the former managing attorney in the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings will earn $120,000 in the post.
At a recent press conference, the Department of Finance spokeswoman Sonia Alleyne said that the position was created to address systemic problems that many drivers experience when paying or fighting the dreaded orange parking tickets. By working with the public and drivers, the advocate hopes to help identify those problems and recommend solutions.
“Some of these challenges may be the result of internal processes that need to be improved or the need to better inform the public on how to navigate the parking ticket system,” Alleyne said.
The new office, first reported by the New York Post, is part of the department’s recent effort to improve customer service, something that really has been lacking when it comes to parking tickets. The city will also add a parking problem hotline for people to voice their complaints within the next few months.
Share Your thoughts!
What do you think about the Department Of Finance’s new position? WIll it actually make the lives of NYC drivers easier? What kind of recommendations would you like to give to Jean Wesh? Feel free to leave comments and concerns on this topic below!