Eric Adams Won't Tackle Own Staff As He Vows Placard Abuse Fight

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — Brooklynites who got a meeting with the borough president Tuesday by calling out placard misuse on Twitter were left disappointed when he wouldn't commit to changing his own staff's parking practices at Borough Hall.

Adams spent nearly two hours brainstorming ways to stop the illegal parking and misuse of placards that his constituents say has run rampant in the borough, including an increased enforcement and car-share plan he first proposed for the city in 2016.

But, even after challenges from those in the crowd, Adams said he wouldn't start by stopping his own staff from parking on the Borough Hall plaza – not until its enforced citywide.

"We won't have an Eric Adams rule," he said. "I fought my entire life to make sure men that look like me don’t have different rules than everyone else, there’s one rule in this city. It’s not going to be a rule just for Eric Adams, the first African American borough president, that’s not happening."

Adams later said that the cars allowed to park on the plaza are used by his female staff, who he allows to park there late at night.

But when asked why there are cars there during the day, he answered by describing how well used the plaza is for community events and the public seating areas.

His reluctance in part seemed because Adams felt unfairly singled out among officials throughout the rest of the city. The meeting started with Adams going through a slideshow of placard misuse at other plazas or offices, like the Manhattan Borough President's Office on Centre Street.

"I don't see any tweets (about her)," Adams said. "I’m the 'break-the-car-culture' elected official — I believe it, I live it... but I’m clear on one thing, we’re not going to have two standards folks."

The forum — which Adams set up after a heated Twitter debate with a disputed Klu Klux Klan reference last week — left attendees at the very least confused about his "defensiveness" on the issue. (In an aside at Tuesday's meeting, Adams denied that his Tweet referencing "the tradition of others who hid themselves with white hoods" was a KKK reference, contending that he was referring only to those who commit "nefarious acts" under a hood or mask of any color.)

Advocates like Blythe Austin, a volunteer with Families for Safe Streets, said she was grateful Adams held the meeting in the first place, but wasn't sure how much would change based on how it went.

"I’m your constituent, I’m not the Manhattan borough president's constituent — I’m coming to you and asking for your help," she said. "We’re doing everything we can and somehow there’s always finger pointing from our elected officials and our police."

Placard abuse has long infuriated New Yorkers who say city officials illegally park without repercussions or use MTA vests, police identifications or other city gear on their dashboards to avoid being ticketed.

Officials have promised a crackdown on the misuses. NYPD Transportation Bureau Inspector Dennis Fulton told the crowd Tuesday that enforcement of placard abuse has gone up 93 percent in the last three years and that his department issued 54,000 summonses for it last year.

But still, frustrated Brooklynites said that the parking issues are far from solved.

Attendees said they have repeatedly reported cars parked in a Jay and Tillary streets turning lane, in the Schermerhorn Street bike lane, in the Jay and Willoughby streets bus stop, in front of fire hydrants at Johnson Place and on sidewalks outside the 84th Precinct.

Adams said Tuesday that he hopes to hold meetings about the issue every few months and wrote down several ideas for helping constituents address the problem, like distributing a list of Integrity Control Officers to report incidents to or advocating for placards to be taken away from repeat offenders.

His citywide proposal includes increasing enforcement at hotspots and eliminating as many as 31,000 city cars.

But residents were still doubtful that plan would even take shape.

"He's talking all about culture change and we can have these conversations again, and again, and again, but culture change starts with leadership, it starts at home," Armenoush Aslanian-Persico said.

"How is anyone going to take him seriously...if he can't even get the private cars off the sidewalk in his own (building)?"