An MTA superintendent crafted homemade placards, created on his home computer, registered to addresses he had not used since 2006, and used them for years to regularly park his two out-of-state cars all over the city

A 2024 Department of Investigation report found that there were over 100,000 parking placards in circulation among the NYPD, DOT and Department of Education. The report criticized a lack of coordination between the three agencies, calling for them to “phase out the use of physical permits.”

Streetsblog has documented how the same impunity granted by a placard is often extended to people who may not have the permit but still have some kind of vest, hand-scrawled sign or symbol of devotion to a member of law enforcement.

The social media account @placardabuse wrote in Streetsblog last year that they had published over 40,000 photos of seeming placard abuse over the past 10 years.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/05/07/mta-superintendent-busted-for-diy-placard