For Louis Cooper, a lifelong resident of E. 134 Street, living in the borough is often an adventure. Cooper recently received what appears to be a bogus parking ticket on his windshield. He had committed no offense, Cooper said.
On Wednesday, November 11, Cooper left his house between Willis Avenue and Brown Place and saw a folded ticket under the windshield wiper of his blue Lincoln, he said. Similar orange envelopes were also visible on his godson’s car and his neighbor’s car.
The “tickets” turned out to be merely envelopes and the backs of tickets, where pleas are usually entered. No parking enforcement officer had signed, and there were no descriptions of the date, time or nature of the infractions.
“There were no serial numbers or any identification,” Cooper said. “These are just envelopes and the backs tickets. These are plea slips with no tickets on the front side.”
Because alternate side parking rules weren’t in effect on his block on November 11, Cooper suspected something was wrong. The ticketed cars are all legally registered, he said. Cooper brought the matter to the attention of a parking enforcement supervisor and the 40th Precinct, who were equally baffled as to how someone got his or her hands on blank plea forms and Department of Finance parking ticket envelopes, he said.
“It seems as if someone is playing a prank. The 40th Precinct didn’t issue it. A [parking enforcement] agent I asked told me she couldn’t even check with the Department of Finance because there were no serial numbers on [the tickets],” Cooper said.
Cooper paid a visit to the city Parking Violation Bureau on Friday, November 13 and ran a check on his plate number. No fines had been levied against his vehicle. Just to be safe, Cooper plans to stop by again at the end of the month.
Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at 718 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com
