NY Daily News EDITORIAL on Judicial Abuse of Police Parking Permits

Judge Emily Jane Goodman's abuse of police parking permit is why they should be taken from jurists
The New York Daily News -  OPINION - EDITORIAL  -  April 18, 2011

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman lives - or at least parks her car - above the law. Goodman views the annoying rules of vehicular placement that apply to others as just that: annoying rules that apply to lesser people who do not claim ownership of a special dashboard placard reading POLICE. And so, on Thursday and Friday morning last week, Goodman's black four-door Audi A4 Quattro sat at expired meters on the west side of Broadway near W. 89th St., just around the corner from her apartment. Ticket agents passed the car by while slapping summonses everywhere else they found violations. "We don't give tickets to the police," said one agent. "I don't want to get into trouble." Only Goodman is not police. She's a judge who fails to understand that free parking is not a perk that comes with sitting on the bench. Goodman has a state-issued placard. These have been in the news of late because Gov. Cuomo slightly reduced the number that his agencies control and shifted many of the holders from "Police" cards to "Official Business" cards.  Goodman came by her placard differently. It turns out that the Office of Court Administration also issues parking passes, a gigantic total of almost 1,800 of them. Who has them all is unclear, as is the question of why they have been issued. However, this much is known. OCA provides "police" placards to roughly 450 judges, including Goodman. There is absolutely no reason a judge should have a police parking permit. Those should be reserved for law enforcement officers who are on official duty or who are on immediate call to respond to emergencies. Her close, convenient parking does not qualify. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman should strip every judge of every placard. His jurists have courthouse parking. They do not need access to the curbside wherever they so whim. Also, Lippman and Cuomo should meld their systems for dispensing placards into a single accountable process - with guidelines spelling out that officials may override parking rules with a placard only in highly justified circumstances.