Yonkers raises parking-violation fines, adds penalty for on-street repairs in amended code
Summary
The City Council amended the Yonkers code to increase penalties for selected parking violations, including higher fines for blocking fire hydrants and new language penalizing on-street vehicle repair; council members said the changes target safety and quality-of-life issues such as double parking.
The Yonkers City Council on Wednesday amended the city code to increase penalties for certain parking violations, a package the council described as aimed at improving public safety and quality of life.
Minority Leader Rita Breen, who led that portion of the discussion, said penalties are intended to address blocking hydrants, sidewalk parking and other behaviors. "People that block hydrants should get ticketed," Breen said during debate, adding that some prior fines were too low to change behavior.
Majority Leader John Rubo cited enforcement figures from a Yonkers police precinct to argue the changes were needed. "In the month of May, the Second Precinct issued 100 tickets and violations just to people double parking," Rubo said, using the statistic as evidence of the scope of the problem.
Councilman Morante said he supported most of the measures but voiced concern about raising the fine for double parking, saying that enforcement, not higher fines, was the better remedy for that behavior.
The ordinance package also added language to penalize on-street vehicle repair. The council adopted the amended ordinance by recorded vote, 6–0; the same changes were later reflected in a code amendment readopted as part of an omnibus agenda item (14d) and adopted as amended 6–0.
