Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made an about-face on parking tickets issued to drivers whose cars were stuck in the snow after Wednesday’s storm.
The city has now decided to forgive all alternate side parking tickets for Thursday, and Friday.
The mayor’s decision to keep alternate side parking rules in effect following the snow storm drew serious criticism. Many drivers argued the ice and snow made it nearly impossible to dig their cars out.
The mayor said Thursday that moving cars was important for the plows to do their job.
"In retrospect, in some parts of the city, there was not that much snow and in other parts there probably was an imposition,” the mayor said on his morning radio show today. “We did get a lot of calls and listened very carefully to what the Sanitation Department heard, what our community assistance unit heard, we took a look at the call that came in to 311 and … this morning I instructed the Department of Finance to waive any Alternate Side of the Street parking tickets for yesterday and today."
Before this news spread, many New Yorkers worked hard Friday to dig their cars out of the snow.
"I wish I had known this morning, then I could have went to my knitting circle and not spent the last half hour digging out which was really hard," said one driver, Monica Gutierrez.
“It makes no sense,” said another driver, Harry Youssios. “It’s obvious people can’t take their cars out of the snow. Why wouldn’t they suspend the parking?”
Tickets issued on Wednesday during the storm still have to be paid.
Tickets from today and yesterday will be automatically taken out of the city’s computer
