A Half-Baked Parking Squeeze

Mayor Bloomberg's decision to reduce parking placards for city employees by 20 percent has a nice, simple, good-government sound to it, and so it was no surprise that the reaction from the shallow end of the pool - the editorial pages of the city's two loudest tabloids - was along the lines of, "Go get 'em, Mayor."

But the fact that Mr. Bloomberg is couching this "reform" in percentage terms suggests that it hasn't been completely thought through. Until and unless agencies thoroughly examine individuals' need for the placards, the Mayor's proposal could be laden with potholes.

Police union leaders are among those questioning the crackdown, saying that the parking permits serve as both a justified benefit for cops who generally don't have the luxury of stationhouse lots in which to leave their personal cars while they are working, and a necessity for them if they take those cars directly to court appearances.

Their concerns may be alleviated by the fact that the Mayor plans to transfer the authority for issuing the permits from all agencies to the NYPD. Teachers may get a less-sympathetic ear, however, although they have just as valid an argument for being able to park in close proximity to where they work.

One argument advanced by City Hall for the reduction in permits is that Mr. Bloomberg wants to encourage greater use of public transportation by city workers. That desire, however, bumps up against another of his administration's goals - to get some of the most-talented Teachers in the school system to work in struggling districts.

More often than not, the schools in which the Mayor is seeking major turnarounds are located in rough neighborhoods. Restricting the number of placards granted to Teachers working in those schools would be about as dumb as Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's revised bus routes plan in mid-school year last February. You don't want to force Teachers to walk several blocks from their schools to get to their cars at the end of the day, when at this time of year it will already be getting dark. And if Mr. Klein hopes to persuade Teachers to leave better schools to work in struggling ones, it's going to be accomplished by granting them good parking, not by restricting it.

The answer to the complaints about city employees abusing their permits for the purposes of shopping or other activities not related to their jobs is simple: make sure it is understood that the placards are to be used strictly for job-related purposes, and that they will be ticketed when they aren't.