City To Boost Revenue with $1 Billion in Fines, Fees

The Staten Island Advance reports that a ticket blitz is on. The city's done it before, but this one's a doozy: Glenn Bolofsky of parkingticket.com tells the paper that the city is "on pace" this year to exceed its 1993 record of 11.3 million parking tickets. Beefed-up traffic enforcement and various inspections are whacking citizens for blocking the box, uncovered trash bins, building violations and whatever else can be ticketed, and the city is charging more for things like civil service exams and movie premieres. The Advance expects fines and fees to exceed $1 billion next year.

Comments on the story are lively, with many sob stories ("I got a ticket on Nov 2 for an expired inspection... 1 freaken day overdue"), some chiding from the law-abiding ("The rules are the rules. Why should you get a grace period when no one else can?"), and suggestions for enforcement targets ("If the cops on SI want to give tickets, they should hide somewhere on Bay Street in Rosebank and see the wankers that speed, race, stand out at the 24 hr deli with their music blasting").