Not sure if I need to get my eyesight fixed or my hearing unclogged. According to my wife though, it would be both.
The other day I saw a guy on the news talking about parking in NYC and the comical signs you see on the street about what you can do and not do when it comes to parking your vehicle in the Big Apple. What I thought I heard and saw was NYC.signs.net, but when I applied that to the search bar, it comes up with a whole bunch of crap about signs, alright! Sign makers, signs for business, etc. Nothing governmental to help navigate yourself away from getting a parking ticket.
So, I tried a different way and put NYC Parking and I got a simple answer of NYC-Parking Signs locator, which actually brings you to a map. Now, this site is pretty cool. On the map you can enter a street, like say, 42nd Steet and behold the map brings up all the signs in the area selected. You then highlight one of them and you are good to go. If you can decipher it correctly?
My first thought as an owner of a transportation company was, this is a fantastic tool. But then, I thought to myself, who will take the time out for that.
We have gotten our share of parking tickets over the years. Back in the early nineties, there was a time it got so high, one of vehicles was impounded in Brooklynn while the chauffeur was getting a cup of coffee. This was a very expensive cup of java my friend. First we had to pay to get the car out of the impound lot, then go pay the fines which after adding fees and penalties, it came to $1,700. Remember now, these are all phantom summonses, because our guys are so good, they never get parking tickets of any kind!
That was not a sarcastic statement, that was the truth. It happened to me. I was sitting on a side street waiting for Doris and about a hundred feet away or so, I saw a ticket meter guy walking and staring at me. Never stopped, never waved to move, nothing. About a month later, there was the ticket in the mail, with a fine, because it wasn't paid on time.
So, I'm at the NYDMV in Brooklynn where the towing company told me to go. I waited patiently in line for close to an hour until I got my turn at the window. When I pulled out all my information, like tickets, plate numbers to make sure there were no more fines lurking around, the woman very nicely say's to me, "for a business you need to go to the Manhattan office downtown".
Now, I looked around and very kindly said I didn't notice any signage to tell me this. Her answer was, "because there is none". I'm not sure of the following conversation we had, but I remained calm. Boy, did I feel like screaming, but I remembered what Kim in our office used to tell me. "You can catch more flies with honey, than vinegar".
I had already placed all my paperwork on the counter and I noticed she started running print outs of each vehicle as I was jabbering away about basically nothing. I said if she needed me to leave, I would go to the other location. "Just stand there and don't say anything" she retorted. Which I did, and in about ten minutes I was able to receive everything I needed without having to go downtown. She was great, but then again I wasn't an ass to her, although, I think I had every right to be.
Thank goodness I left the vinegar in the car.
Be safe.
John A Sutich
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