No

[VietnamEraVet]

No

 

[Robin]

Since the crack down on DWI's you can drive through the village of this little town at nine PM and the street is deserted, kind of spooky. Now on court night, it is packed, you cannot find parking on the street!
Robin

 

[Hillbilly77]

Years ago, I knew a guy that got a parking ticket in one of the local shithole towns.
He actually caught the little fuck (a teenaged ticket writer, similar to the revenuer you described) that wrote the ticket leaning on his car while he was BSing with his buddies.

So, he shitcanned the ticket and ignored it until he got a nastygram from the town, threatening legal action, etc.

With no other choice, he paid the ticket. To exact revenge against the municipality, he then ran over one of their parking signs, damaging it so that the cost of labor and a new signpost was sure to cost the town more than they made on the parking fine.

Petty? Yes. Did he give a shit? No.
Would he do it again? Yes.

 

[BuffNiag]

F’em. I don’t think the city will ever realize how much they are shooting themselves in the foot with the current parking situation. It is a major hurdle for people from the suburbs to go there and spend their money. For the risk of having your car ticketed, towed, vandalized or “accidentally” damaged, it’s just not worth it for many people.

I realize that parking lots aren’t a good use of urban space but public transportation around here is a joke. There really isn’t a viable option other than driving.

 

[Curmudgeon]

As many here know, I have moved from NY to NC; closed my NY businesses; sold my office building, and got the hell out! However, I still have one vehicle in NY that is being driven by one of my children, while registered to me!

And of course, one of NY's finest money grubbing agencies has reached out and dinged me again! Yes, I am referring to the City of Buffalo Division of Parking Enforcement, run by Commissioner Kevin J Helfer. Here is how they did it:

Their little wanna be cops, AKA Parking Enforcement Revenuer Agents ticketed my vehicle while it was legally parked. Although NO TICKET was found (I actually don't know IF they issued one), because they ticketed it for having an expired registration sticker on the windshield.

Of course, the vehicle IS and WAS properly registered with the registration due to expire in 2021, - only an expired sticker was on the windshield. Now, in NY, there are ELECTRONIC records that would show the vehicle was properly registered. But, apparently, the little wanna be cops of the DPE don't check electronic registration data! No, that would require using common sense, and utilizing databases that already exist!

So, since no ticket was found on the vehicle, their $35 ticket went unknown, and has now been upped to $75, and a letter sent to me that threatens me with further sanctions including a default judgement, and added fees, expense, and collection actions taken against me.

I called the extortionary agency, only to be put on an approximate 25 minute hold. Then, the genius who answered actually managed to restate the specifics of the ticket, but was otherwise useless. I was told that I have the right to request a hearing to come before his highness, Kevin J Helfer to plead for forgiveness in the hope that they would reduce or dismiss the fine.

Of course, I can see the benefit of taking a day or two off of work here in NC to then pay $350-500 for an airfare to Buffalo; $100 for a hotel room; $100 for Uber rides; and other expenses such as meals and incidentals to the tune of $550 - $700+ to come to Buffalo to plead Not Guilty (Oh, the horror!) at a weekday hearing to this bullshit $75 extortionary ticket.

So, your highness, Mr. Helfer, you have succeeded in legally extorting money for the City of Buffalo from me given your ancient method, half assed revenuer agency. Good for you.

Now, the flip side. IF and when I ever come to WNY again to visit family (which will very, very likely be the ONLY reason I will ever come to WNY), - you may be certain that I will NEVER venture into the City of Buffalo again of my own free will. I am just one guy, and in the big picture, my not spending $50 or $500 at businesses in Buffalo will likely not be noticed. Over time, as more and more NY taxpayers get fed up and leave NY state (and believe me, I see a ton of them here in NC everyday), your little fiefdom will eventually shrivel up and die.

And I will be applauding that day when it comes. Good Riddance to the City of Buffalo and its' Revenuers. In the meantime, I am actively encouraging my family members to GTFO of NY state.

And one more thing about NY Revenuer policies: when I lived in NY, I used to see "safety check" roadblocks all the time. Safety check, my ass! Go to your local town's traffic court night that occurs on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, and take a seat in the courtroom, and watch the gravy train. Cities and towns in NY are using these roadblocks to raise money, - not for safety! They reduce all moving violations to parking tickets so that they keep the entire fine instead of sending part of it to the crooks in Albany. $150, cha-ching; $125, cha-ching; $240, cha-ching….and on and on it goes. It is not at all uncommon to see a local court run through a couple of hundred victims in one night.

Funny thing down here in NC: on an average day, I will see as many as a dozen police cars driving about. The thing is: they don't bother you. And in over 15 months down here, I have NEVER seen or even heard about a police roadblock! They don't have them here! What does that tell you?

Helfer's not a horrible guy. This should be able to be worked out. Assumption is you have a clean record.

 

[tony]

This all could have been avoided by putting the new sticker on before the old one expired.
or
You could have sold/given the vehicle to your child before you left and it would not be your problem. There, that was easy...

 

[VietnamEraVet]

Helfer's not a horrible guy. This should be able to be worked out. Assumption is you have a clean record.

I've never had a hard on for Kevin Helfer, - in fact I agree with you. The problem I have is the operation. I in fact called the office to see if I could send in a letter from here in NC to appeal the ticket. The asshole on the line informed me by quoting statute, and told me that I could not do that, - that I would need to come to Buffalo to appear in person to appeal the ticket. THAT is shitty!

I have now gone and paid the damn ticket, even though there is in fact a discrepancy in that that the ticket says the "offense" occurred at 8PM, and the online payment data say it occurred at midnight.

What also ticks me off is the revenuer aspect of this. It is OK if they are ticketing for parking on the wrong side during winter, or other illegal parking. BUT it is petty as all hell to ticket for an expired sticker, WHEN, they could easily check an online NYS database to see if the vehicle is legally registered or not. IF it is not, go ahead, - ticket it; boot it; tow it. I get that. But to ticket over a duplicitous window sticker on a legally registered vehicle is a bullshit money grab.

I try to do something for my kid, and NY state dings me $77.00 for it. Unnecessary and duplicitous horseshit is a waste of resources all around.

Screw the revenuers.

 

[VietnamEraVet]

This all could have been avoided by putting the new sticker on before the old one expired.
or
You could have sold/given the vehicle to your child before you left and it would not be your problem. There, that was easy...

That's true. I could cut absolutely all ties to my family in NY state. Gee, maybe I should stop giving them Christmas presents as long as they live in NY too. The point is that the ticket is stupid, petty, and all it does is piss me off for being another money grab,

Years ago, the owner of a large company in Syracuse (a foundry as I recall) retired and moved to Florida. Even after he did, he continued to contribute to charities in upstate NY (God knows, we need it). Anyway, the NY state tax authorities went after him and tried to claim he was still a NY resident for tax purposes BECAUSE he gave to charities in NY!

After that, he did what ANY sane ex NY resident would do: He said Fuck You to NY state, and cut every possible tie to the state. And he stopped donating to those charities in NY.

Case closed.

 

[tony]

This all could have been avoided by putting the new sticker on before the old one expired.
or
You could have sold/given the vehicle to your child before you left and it would not be your problem. There, that was easy...

That's true. I could cut absolutely all ties to my family in NY state. Gee, maybe I should stop giving them Christmas presents as long as they live in NY too. The point is that the ticket is stupid, petty, and all it does is piss me off for being another money grab,
Case closed.

Oy vey...

 

[C3D]

Sorry to the OP, but regardless of whether the vehicle’s registration is current the display of the expired sticker and not the current one was a violation and you are guilty.

 

[gun_slinger_boy]

Sorry to the OP, but regardless of whether the vehicle’s registration is current the display of the expired sticker and not the current one was a violation and you are guilty.

Not only that but the car is still registered to him. So he will be on the hook for everything. This isn't over. Tony is correct in that you need to be rid of the car one way or another if you don't want to deal with NY anymore.

 

[Celt]

It's annoying, and I tried to fight a ticket in New York City for the same reason. And I was told that the ticket is for failure to display a valid registration. It didn't matter that it was officially registered in the system, only that I didn't have my sticker displayed. I even had an email confirmation sitting on my windshield that showed I paid the DMV fees because I was hoping not to get ticketed for it. The revenuers are going to revenue.

 

[2WheelGnnr]

dump the car and sell to offspring so your not on the hook for any mistakes they may make like with stickers or parking or accidents.

let them stand on their own. then you have cut proper ties with all NY affiliations.

 

[Defilade]

Cities? I avoid at all costs. They should pay me to go there. Between pot holes, traffic and seeing nasty Hoes..I'll pass!

 

[VietnamEraVet]

I am going to guess that one or more of the posters to this thread may not have children just out of college. Ever hear of helping out your child by keeping them on your insurance policy to save them money until they get established in their careers, and over 25 years old? That is why the vehicle is still in my name.

My main objection to this shit is because of costs incurred due to the stupidity of how NY state is run.

In many other states, one license plate is enough. Not NY.
In other states, you can display an email of your valid car insurance on your phone if stopped. No paper copy required.
Other states utilize their databases rather than relying on redundant paper. NY can, (with plate readers), BUT the Parking Revenuers choose not to. Would it be too much to allow people to submit a written request in lieu of a face to face hearing, instead of taking off time from work, or, in my case, spending $500+ to come to Buffalo to contest it?

My issue is that NY wastes incredible amounts of time, effort, and resources needlessly, and we end up paying for it. A classic case in point that everyone here with an NY CCW permit will understand: the asinine requirement to use coupons; make multiple trips to add or delete a handgun to said permit, because they insist on listing every single one on your permit. I don't know about all states, but NC, PA, and FL do not...
NY state is awash in needless forms, rules, and regulations, and wasting millions in the process. NY tax forms are another prime example.

 

[MikeM]

Could have given your son power of attorney to represent you and fight it in person. if nothing else it would have been an education for him to see NY gov't in action and might spur his desire to move.

I did this with my son while he was in Indiana and received a ticket on a car registered to me.

 

[Defilade]

My son just bought a car, car was inspected last month by previous owner, but no! The State needs it re- inspected by the new owner...FUNY!!!

 

[C3D]

In other states, you can display an email of your valid car insurance on your phone if stopped. No paper copy required.

Electronic proof of insurance is 100% legal in NYS and has been for a while.

Important Notice on Proof of Insurance in an Electronic Format

NYS DMV Insurance Information & Enforcement System (IIES)Important InformationApril 29, 2015 Important Notice on Proof of Insurance in an Electronic Format Recent changes to the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Regulations, Part 32, http://www.dos.ny.gov/info/nycrr.html now allows...

dmv.ny.gov

 

[Kwalsh]

Wait till the tax man realizes you have a residence in ny that your vehicle is registered to and you get an income tax bill

 

[Kirk_STNY]

I have a similar situation with NYC (Queens). My son lives there. I own the car. At least NYC sends me a bill before it is too late.

 

[Acer-m14]

if it was parked and no one driving at time of BS ticket .. its BS ..

@VietnamEraVet send them the 77 bucks in pennies .. COD .. LOL ..

 

[Acer-m14]

My son just bought a car, car was inspected last month by previous owner, but no! The State needs it re- inspected by the new owner...FUNY!!!

every time i got a new to me car/truck and the inspection was good .. i just ignored the 10 day one they give me when i registered it .. .. registration good . inspection good .. FUAC ..

did DMV say you have to come back to show new inspection sticker ??

 

[Defilade]

every time i got a new to me car/truck and the inspection was good .. i just ignored the 10 day one they give me when i registered it .. .. registration good . inspection good .. FUAC ..

did DMV say you have to come back to show new inspection sticker ??

No, just a temp for now. Someone told me that the inspection sticker is linked via computer to the registration..

 

[spat]

Sorry to the OP, but regardless of whether the vehicle’s registration is current the display of the expired sticker and not the current one was a violation and you are guilty.

He may technically be guilty, but the point is that it shouldn't even be a violation to be guilty of.

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

Do meter maids even have jurisdiction to write tickets for reg and inspections?

 

[gun_slinger_boy]

Come to think of it... here in PA we don't even have registration stickers lol. Definitely a scam. But NY is full of scams.

 

[C3D]

He may technically be guilty, but the point is that it shouldn't even be a violation to be guilty of.

I disagree. It’s a pretty simple requirement to have a current reg sticker on your car; all 50 states have that requirement. If it wasn’t a violation to have an old sticker v new than nobody would ever take the time to change the stickers, meaning a lot of tickets would be written and later dismissed.

Given how many illegal and uninsured vehicles float around I think we are all much better for this law than without it. There is a lot of stuff in NY to be bitching about but this ain’t one of ‘em.

 

[Shadow2]

DMV know when my inspection and reg is up based on my plate number .. Any municipality with access to the DMV data base can see this. Like most things in NY this is indeed a cash grab. If any one type of document on the car matches the VIN and everything is paid up no violation has occurred. Just another reason to pull you over for a fishing expedition.

 

[gun_slinger_boy]

It’s a pretty simple requirement to have a current reg sticker on your car; all 50 states have that requirement.

PA doesn't have this requirement and I'm sure plenty other states don't either. Just like us and other states only have a requirement for one license plate this shows that the sticker and 2 plate requirement in NY are arbitrary and unneeded.

DMV know when my inspection and reg is up based on my plate number .. Any municipality with access to the DMV data base can see this. Like most things in NY this is indeed a cash grab. If any one type of document on the car matches the VIN and everything is paid up no violation has occurred. Just another reason to pull you over for a fishing expedition.

^^^nutshell

 

[C3D]

PA doesn't have this requirement and I'm sure plenty other states don't either. Just like us and other states only have a requirement for one license plate this shows that the sticker and 2 plate requirement in NY are arbitrary and unneeded.


^^^nutshell

Looks like you’re right, PA killed this requirement in 2017. Funny because I remember putting those little license plate stickers on when dating my wife who‘s from Philly.

Two plates are of course absolutely necessary to ensure that our overloads can scan us at toll booths an extra $9.50 tax each time I drive from Long Island to the Bronx.