[StBernard] Police, Public Officials Park Illegally

[Westley Annis]

Police, Public Officials Park Illegally
TheNewOrleansChannel.com
updated 12:01 p.m. CT, Fri., Feb. 1, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - White lines ? meaning absolutely no parking -- don?t mean much
to the cars that, every day, ignore them and pull right in near City Hall.
Click Here: Watch The Story

And they?re not just any cars: they?re cars driven by public employees from
the Orleans Parish District Attorney?s Office, City Hall, Police Department
? and the mayor?s office. 

?If anybody should know better, it should be them,? said local resident Dave
Taylor, who works nearby. 

The public employees who flout the law have angered Taylor and his friends. 

?It makes it seem like they are above the law,? Taylor said. ?That they
don?t have to follow what everyone else has to follow.? 

Charles Tubre of the public advocacy center, meanwhile, worries because he
said public vehicles prevent him and others from using a wheelchair access
ramp. 

?I'm crossing the street now trying to go up the curb cut however it is
blocked by this black cruiser,? Tubre said. ?It looks like a public official
license I'm going to have to get out in the traffic flow in order to get
around it because not only is it blocked on the front side, it is also
blocked on the back side.? 

He said the ramp is blocked every day. 

?For the sake of their own convenience, they park wherever they can,? Tubre
said. 

A worker in the mayor?s office apologized and moved her car when asked about
blocking the ramp. But a worker from the D.A.?s office said ?this is where
all the D.A.?s cars park.? 

?They kind of told us we could park here,? the D.A. investigator said. 

District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson said employees of her office don?t
have any authority to park in any handicapped spots. 

?We recognize the importance of it and I will instruct anyone from my office
who is doing that not to do it anymore,? Landrum-Johnson said. 

Meanwhile, at City Hall itself, police cars block the wheelchair access
ramps. 

An officer parked in a handicapped zone declined to comment. 

?It is inexcusable,? N.O.P.D. Superintendent Warren Riley said. ?If you have
any car numbers, please let me know. We?ll put out a memo advising officers
that this is something that has been brought to our attention and it is
something that is to cease immediately or there will be some sort of
disciplinary action for it.? 

Not long after WDSU spoke to the district attorney, their cars stopped
blocking the nearby wheelchair access ramp ? only to be replaced by a car
from the governor?s office and automobiles belonging to the city. A white
van marked ?City of New Orleans? completely blocked the wheelchair access
ramp. 

Meanwhile, at City Hall, a day after WDSU talked to Riley, a police cruiser
was parked across a pedestrian cross-walk, blocking the wheel chair access
ramp. That time, however, someone had ticketed the cruiser. 

?I?ve been wanting literally to tow all those vehicles every single day,?
New Orleans Director of Public Works Robert Mendoza said. ?The problem is,
every time we tow one group, another group moves in there.? 

Next, Mendoza wants to boot and immobilize vehicles that park illegally. 

Then, he said, the employee will have the task of explaining why a boot has
been bolted to one of the office?s cars. 

Meanwhile, the NOPD?s Public Integrity Division said they?ve begun
investigating the parking situation, and all police officers parking their
cars illegally, in handicapped zones, or blocking wheelchair access ramps
will be subject to disciplinary action and ticketed. 

More News From WDSU :

Judge Dismisses Class Action Against Corps

Thursday's Parades Cancelled, Rescheduled

2 Hornets To Make All-Star Debut In Home Arena

Boyfriend: Slain Officer Was Pregnant

Hornets Continue NBA's Longest Current Win Streak

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22952298/