Greenfield – 1, Sanitation Parking Stickers – 0

The Brooklyn Politics has once again alerted us to a mainstream news story that’s relevant to our readership.

In the war on neon colored parking violation stickers, it looks like Councilman David Greenfield has just scored a victory for drivers.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that officials from the Department of Sanitation stated at a recent City Council hearing that they would consider a pilot program to study the possibility of eliminating the highly visible and almost impossible to get off stickers, which are placed on the windows of illegally parked cars on alternate side of the street parking days.

The termination of the punitive postings was a cause taken up by Councilman David Greenfield back in April. Greenfield feels the stickers are a “unnecessary double punishment” for drivers who already have to pay a fine for being parked on the wrong side of a street during cleaning time.

While promising to keep an open mind with regards to the pilot program, Sanitation Department officials were reluctant to come out in support of stopping what they consider to be one of the few ways to get the attention of delinquent car parkers.

From Wall Street Journal:

“We’re definitely going to revisit this sticker issue,” John Nucatola, director of the department’s bureau of cleaning and collection, said at the conclusion of a hearing on a proposal to ban the practice of putting the highly adhesive stickers on cars.

Mr. Nucatola had expressed opposition to getting rid of the stickers, which he said have helped contribute to the city’s increasingly clean streets.

“These stickers, which have been authorized since 1988, have served as an effective deterrent for those owners who deem a fine to be easier than moving the car to allow the department to do its job,” said Mr. Nucatola in his testimony.

Meanwhile, members of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, of which Greenfield is a member, showed strong support for getting rid of the stickers. Council Member James Vacca (D- Bronx), who serves as committee chairman, called the stickering of cars in addition to parking fines an “overkill,” and “excessive.”

City Councilman David G. Greenfield represents the 44th Council District, which includes Borough Park as well as parts of Midwood and Bensonhurst