{"id":383583,"date":"2026-10-27T04:38:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/383583\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T04:38:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:38:41","slug":"tuesdays-headlines-justice-for-scofflaw-drivers-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/383583\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday’s Headlines: Justice For Scofflaw Drivers Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s edition of \u201cDo We Live in a Society Or What?\u201d comes live from the offices of Community Board 11 in Upper Manhattan. Tonight, the board\u2019s executive committee is considering backing a bill by state Sen. Cordell Cleare<\/a> (D-Manhattan) to exempt drivers from automated enforcement tickets if they park in the new bus lane on 116th Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wait, you think I\u2019m making this up? This is the text of Cleare\u2019s bill, which reads more like a press release from a person who does the exact thing from which she wants to be exempt from accountability:<\/p>\n

Experience shows us that certain streets in New York City are more appropriate than others for the use of new technology represented by bus lane and bus operation-related photo enforcement programs. 116th Street has a concentration of houses of worship and other important community facilities that are in constant use for worship, education, social services, healthcare, weddings, funerals and the like. Cars are picking up and dropping off people, often older New Yorkers, and the camera-mounted on a bus cannot tell if a person has double-parked for 30 seconds or three days. People are being unfairly treated and the system is not set up for people to successfully contest these \u201cnotices of violation.\u201d There has to be a rational middle ground that recognizes what a camera captures does not tell the whole story. This middle ground used to be called \u201cparking enforcement\u201d and it was undertaken by civil servants. We can have safe streets and rational enforcement at the same time.<\/p>\n

So, a few things:<\/p>\n

\u201cExperience shows us\u2026\u201d? Indeed it does, namely, that drivers park in bus lanes whenever they know they won\u2019t get caught.<\/p>\n

Yes, 116th Street has lots of diverse commercial and social uses \u2026 as does virtually very commercial street in town.<\/p>\n

There is nothing unfair about receiving a parking ticket when you commit a parking offense.<\/p>\n

Bus-lane cameras only issue a ticket if a double-parked car is snapped by two consecutive buses, so Cleare\u2019s excuse (\u201cI only parked illegally for 30 seconds!\u201d) does not apply. Those cameras need consecutive passes before issuing a ticket offense.<\/p>\n

At Streetsblog, we always say, \u201cWe\u2019ve seen everything!\u201d \u2014\u00a0and in this case, we\u2019re right: Last year, normally normal state Sen. Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx) put up a bill that would have<\/a> exempted all of Co-op City from bus lane enforcement cameras. And it went all the way through both houses before Gov. Hochul, mercifully, vetoed it, saying, \u201cCarveouts of automated camera enforcement would hinder bus and paratransit riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

To her credit, Cleare called me back to defend her bill, primarily by saying that construction of the Second Avenue has \u201cimpacted mom and pop stores who can\u2019t afford to lose customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"State Sen. Cordell Cleare. Photo: NYS Senate<\/p>\n

I suggested that customers don\u2019t need to park illegally to shop at local stores, but Cleare again defended illegal parking for pickup and drop-offs. \u201cCamera tickets are a deterrent to people stopping [to shop],\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re chasing customers away.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also pointed out that there are lots of houses of worship and funeral homes in the area. \u201cThis is pay to pray,\u201d she said, ignoring the possibility that the faithful could find legal parking.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Cleare said she sometimes takes the bus, so I asked her why she is championing the needs of a few car owners over tens of thousands of daily riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps we do that [help bus riders], but we need a compromise for people who worship and shop in this community,\u201d she said, ignoring the fact that bus riders also worship and shop in that community.<\/p>\n

Or, as MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan put it more succinctly, \u201cThe MTA opposes slowing down buses and making them less accessible due to blocked stops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, bus riders have more friends than just the MTA; the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, which has opposed bills like this in the past<\/a>, is pushing back on Cleare\u2019s bill, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City bus riders deserve dedicated lanes and stops that are free of double-parked cars, trucks, and other obstructions,\u201d Associate Director Brian Fritsch told Streetsblog. \u201cAutomated camera enforcement<\/a> has delivered on this promise by increasing bus speeds by 5 percent and reducing collisions by 20 percent. Irresponsible bills that exempt specific streets or neighborhoods set a dangerous precedent; once you grant one exemption, everyone will ask for one, no matter how flimsy the rationale.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Here\u2019s DOT\u2019s plan for 116th Street (under construction). Rendering: NYC DOT<\/p>\n

He pointed out that the M116 bus moves at an average of 5.6 mph \u2014 one of the slowest and least reliable buses in the city \u2014 evidence that the 65,000 daily bus riders on that corridor need more enforcement, not less. One bus rider reached out preemptively to me to get the word out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re finally getting a faster bus and safety improvements and can\u2019t believe the Senate and our community board want to stop this progress!\u201d Joseph Rienti emailed me. \u201cCan you help?\u201d<\/p>\n

Help? No, I\u2019m just a humble self-important journalist, but I can get the word out. So here goes: The meeting is tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the board\u2019s office (1664 Park Ave. between 117th and 118th streets) or via Zoom. Click here to register<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other news from a pretty slow day:<\/p>\n

Speaking of bad drivers who enrage us, here\u2019s an Assembly candidate who understands what pedestrians are dealing with:<\/p>\n

A car driver smashed through a fence at one of the busiest subway stations in town. (West Side Rag<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Save the chin-up bars of Tompkins Square Park! (NY Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Queens bus redesign is working, at least for bus speeds. (amNY<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Department of Transportation is soliciting feedback on four new greenway routes. (amNY<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The Post<\/a> is fanning flames about an expected shortfall in the MTA\u2019s operating budget by, of course, venting about congestion pricing.<\/p>\n

Wow, the MTA\u2019s \u201creview\u201d of its misbehaving EAGLE bus fare enforcement team<\/a> was fast \u2014\u00a0too fast. (NYDN<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The elevator at the Yankee Stadium station is having a Met-like episode. (NY Post<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s edition of \u201cDo We Live in a Society Or What?\u201d comes live from the offices of Community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-383583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}