This is dirty politics. I believe the city council member has something to do with this too.
I wonder how many other schools will find this happening within the next few weeks.
There was no reason why the police or meter people couldn't go into the school to tell the principal this was happening, and not have ticketed those cars that day.
And, yes Randi should get involved in this too to make sure these tickets are voided. The principal may have to write a letter that as of the beginning of the day, those spots were desginated for school and he was never notified of the change.
This happened in, I believe, Williamsburg a few weeks ago. New parking signs were put up on Saturday, when Shabbas had already begun, and of course observant Orthodox Jews would not have been accessing their cars. Parking places that were legal at sundown on Friday were no longer legal at sundown on Saturday, and many people were ticketed. The mayor did dismiss those tickets; I believe the community got the state rep. involved as well as the city councilperson. Worth a shot.
Oh, FWIW: We have NO teacher parking places at my school. None. Zero. And over the summer, a block of the street that my school is on (the block just before the school entrance) was made No Standing. Get to school after 7:45 and plan to spend a minimum of 10-15 minutes looking for parking.
The good news is that the teachers can go to the city DMV and plea bargain the ticket down to $75. It could be worse. Kleinberg could demand a parking fee and our union would probably allow it.
Plea bargain down to $75? If what was written was accurate, those tickets should be dismissed outright! And go to the DMV? I'd try to challenge it online first.
A quick story: I once spent nearly 30 minutes looking for a spot in the morning. I ended up taking a spot an the wrong side knowing I'd have a period to move it. I searched for the WHOLE period and eventually had to park illegally and take a ticket. I got a $45 ticket, but I went online and explained my situation and got $13 knocked off. As I was clearly in the wrong, I took the deal!
Instead of negotiating a contract reduction from teachers, they'll instead fine the cap out of them till they get the money they want.
I find it amazing that the city fails to understand how important a factor parking is to teachers when they decide which schools they wish to apply to. Ever since the dreaded Open Market began, I can't tell you how many teachers have asked me, "What's the parking like at that school?" and then crossed it off the list when they discovered it was parking hell.
Parking can easily add 30 minutes to a commute. Anyone who thinks that doesn't factor into whether teachers apply to a particular school isn't thinking much.
When my kids ask me why I take the bus, I always give some nonsense about wanting to be "green". Sometimes they make fun and say it's probably because I can't afford a car- this post certainly proves that to be true.
That same thing happened at my school last month! Luckily the AP made an announcement over the loudspeaker and let anyone parked on that street run out and move their cars. I think they avoided getting tickets that way.
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