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New York cracks down on diplomatic parking habits
March 10, 1997
Web posted at: 10:48 p.m. EST (0348 GMT)From Correspondent Richard Roth
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Along the sidewalks and streets of the city that never sleeps, international incidents lurk.
Diplomats park willy-nilly, then cite diplomatic immunity and ignore their tickets, the city claims, putting the "scoff" in scofflaw, a habitual and even flagrant lawbreaker.
But now the city, which has been stiffed on hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines, is launching a counter-offensive in this urban war over parking violations.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Bill Richardson, the new U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, announced a parking plan they hope will curb tensions.
"Beginning April 1, there will be no exceptions for diplomats," Richardson told a news conference. "If any diplomats park illegally, they can expect a ticket and they will be held accountable for payment."
Under the new plan, the State Department will ask missions to surrender the license plates of diplomats who fail to pay New York City parking tickets within a year.
The department can refuse to renew annual registrations of diplomats who fail to pay their fines. If a scofflaw vehicle is towed for illegal parking, its plates will be removed and sent to the State Department.
"This is good government at its best -- no loopholes, no misunderstandings and no exceptions," Richardson added.
All U.N. missions will have an allocated number of parking spaces, and the city will establish a telephone hot-line to help police make room.
The delegates apparently will need a little time for the news to sink in. Minutes after the parking agreement was announced, illegally parked diplomatic vehicles were spotted on Manhattan streets -- one was right across the street from United Nations headquarters.
Inside the U.N., the world heard about the new parking plan from the U.S. ambassador. Initial reaction was tepid among some members.
The Russians, for one, took objection. It should be noted they lead the scofflaw hit list, amassing nearly 15,000 tickets and unpaid penalties of more than $720,000 in the first six months of 1996 alone.
Sergey Karev, the Russian legal affairs officer, suggested New York is using the parking issue to signal that the United Nations may no longer be welcome.
"If this is the case, it is not the parking issue which should be considered," Karev said. "What we should look to, then, are offers from other cities to host the United Nations headquarters."
Predictably, perhaps, the U.N. wants more discussions with New York and the State Department before the plan goes into effect.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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