New Haven Independent

They’re the guilty party.

But don’t expect them to pay up. Or to see their car towed in the middle of the night.

The Chevy Cavalier has been parked for hours at a time on the western side of narrow Orange Street between Elm and Court streets, in front of the Hall of Records government office building at 200 Orange.

The Chevy happens to be the pool car for City Hall’s corporation counsel office. Like other city employees, its drivers have been parking illegally in front of the Hall of Records, usually without receiving tickets — even though the city rapidly slaps tickets on other drivers’ cars. The ticketing occurs for good reason: Illegal parking causes back-ups on that block. (Plus, violators are easy prey: The ticketers’ office is right inside 200 Orange.) City workers and members of the public alike have trouble finding nearby street parking when they need to run quick errands inside 200 Orange.

Some city employees — including at least one ticketer! — have taken advantage of the double enforcement standard by illegally parking for extended periods of time there, not just for quick errands, as the Independent discovered and reported in this article. Click on the play arrow to watch ticketers’ “explanations” for flouting and failing the enforce the law before the article brought their actions (and inactions) to light.

Since the Independent report, city traffic czar Mike Piscitelli clarified the ticketing policy: Employees may not park illegally for extended periods on the block. They may do so to run inside the Hall of Records for quick errands.

True to Piscitelli’s word, his meter-checkers have been putting tickets on the windshields of some government vehicles flouting the law on the block for extended periods of time. Click on the play arrow to watch a ticketer fine a housing authority van.

The corporation counsel pool car pictured at the top of this story was spotted in a prime illegal spot on the block Monday, with a ticket on the windshield. The ticket had been issued at 11:37 a.m. The car remained illegally parked past 3 p.m.

Inside the car, on the front seat, another ticket was visible. That one had been issued the same day, at 9:08 a.m. at Orange and Court. “Our records indicate 17 tickets and $530.00 due [on the car], dating back to 2003 and includes both the base amount and accrued penalties,” Piscitelli reported.

Piscitelli added that a solution nears. The city is creating a short-term parking lane down the block in front of the federal building. “You identified a real problem out on Orange and we intend to be in better shape going forward,” Piscitelli said. (Click here for another example of how Piscitelli handles problems brought to his attention.)

John Ward, the city’s corporation counsel, said he hadn’t realized his employees were illegally parking the pool car until Piscitelli informed him following an Independent inquiry. He said he’s instructing his employees to stop the practice.

The car “is not going to be there anymore,” Ward vowed. “I’m dealing with it going forward. The past is the past.” (Note to passers-by: The license plate number is 68 NH.)

Meanwhile, Ward said he doesn’t plan to pay the accumulated debt. That would involve dipping into city coffers to put the money back into city coffers. “I don’t know how that could happen. It’s kind of ridiculous,” Ward said.

He added that he’ll tell his employees that from now on, if they get a ticket, they must pay it out of their own pockets.