Jun 26, 2008 7:30 pm US/Eastern
NYC Councilman Looks To Fight 'Deadbeat Diplomats'
Traffic Privileges Account For More Than $18 Million In Unpaid Parking Fines
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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With some diplomatic deadbeats having run up parking tickets totaling $18 million, one of those most steamed is Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens).
AP
It's gone on for decades: diplomats parking with impunity. They've racked up millions in parking tickets, then many thumbed their noses at the fines. Now one city councilman thinks the city should fight back.
With some diplomatic deadbeats having run up parking tickets totaling $18 million, one of those most steamed is Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens).
"Just because you're a diplomat doesn't mean you don't have to play by the same rules as anybody else," he told CBS 2.
One of the worst at paying the bill is Egypt, whose Mission to the United Nations on 44th Street has a free parking zone there and across the street.
In fact, Egypt leads the list as diplomatic deadbeats, followed by Kuwait, Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil.
When CBS 2 cameras went into the Egyptian mission to question them, all we got in response were hands shoved in the lens.
This isn't the first time diplomatic deadbeats have angered city officials. In 1997, Mayor Rudy Giuliani famously threatened to suspend licenses of diplomatic scofflaws.
"What we expect is compliance with our laws," he said at the time.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that most of the outstanding tickets are old, and don't add up to much.
"Given our budget of roughly $60 billion, I suspect it would cost us more to go back and it would be relatively fruitless," he said.
Still, Gioia has a creative proposal that would involve tow trucks and eliminating some parking zones.
"You have 'No Standing Anytime' in front of the Egypt Embassy, which means you start towing cars. So maybe they won't pay their tickets, but it would sure be a pain in the neck to go down and pick up their cars every day," he said.
The question then, of course, is: would the city play that brand of hardball and incur the wrath of foreign countries?
That remains to be seen.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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