Agent gets reassigned

Traffic agent T. Flight is no longer on duty in Riverdale, according to the NYPD’s Department of Internal Affairs.
But Riverdalians, as well as people who work in the Riverdale area, are still unearthing bogus tickets signed with her name.
The city agency has been interviewing recipients of the so-called phantom tickets over the last couple months and says a thorough investigation is underway. They would not say, however, whether Ms. Flight is writing tickets in another neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Councilman James Vacca recently introduced a bill that may help to prevent phantom ticketing. The bill would require traffic enforcement agents to photograph offenses and attach the photo to each notice of violation, giving drivers a basis on which to argue tickets they feel were wrongly issued.
Violations like vehicles blocking a ramp or crosswalk, edging into a no-standing or bus zone or double parking — as most of T. Flight’s tickets alleged — would be easily identified in a photograph.
Mr. Vacca’s bill was inspired by a slew of questionable tickets in his east Bronx district, much like the rash of bogus tickets in Riverdale.
“The is a serious issue, and we need to make sure that parking violations are being give out judiciously,” Mr. Vacca said in a press release. “We also need to make sure that when someone’s guilty of breaking the rules, they know the argument’s over and that they shouldn’t do it again.”
The bill introduction follows the release of a survey by The New York Times that found the city issued nearly 10 million parking violations last fiscal year, worth over $624 million in fines. That figure represents a 64 percent increase over 2002.
In case you haven't seen it, The Times has created an extensive city map, plotting parking tickets given out during over a year period.