Diplomat Drivers Irk New York

ByABC News
August 9, 2002, 3:32 PM

N E W  Y O R K, Aug. 12 -- Only in New York could parking tickets threaten foreign policy.

Thanks to an 11th-hour call from Secretary of State Colin Powell to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city of New York did not impound the cars of the many foreign consulates that face outstanding parking fines from the city.

Bloomberg had threatened the international scofflaws with a midnight deadline before he would call in the tow trucks, but the State Department warned that Bloomberg's decision could have hefty repercussions for U.S. diplomats serving abroad.

Bloomberg's argument passed like a torch between New York's mayors is that the parking tickets collected by these foreign diplomats is a problem too large to ignore. By the Bloomberg's accounting, the city is owed $21.3 million in fines dating back to 1997. The State Department puts the figure closer to $10 million, saying that the city is including interest and registration violations that can't be levied against diplomats.

Reduce and Enforce

The agreement in principle reached between the State Department and the city would ease the parking crunch by reducing the number of consular licenses and getting federal assistance in collecting outstanding debts. Each mission or consulate would be granted between one and three spaces outside U.N. headquarters, but the city reserves the right to take spaces away if a country tallies too many tickets. All other diplomatic cars will have to fight for spaces just like everyone else in the city.

About 1,600 diplomats have State Department-issued licenses that grant them immunity from parking tickets and allow them only to be towed in case of emergency. The city's problem is with the 700 consular-licensed cars that don't have immunity and were nearly towed en masse last week. The deal brokered between the city and the State Department could bring the number of diplomatic decals closer to 500.

"It's an incentive for employees to obey traffic laws and pay parking tickets, or their boss will lose his privileges," said an official with the U.N.-U.S. mission, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "It's a good deal for New Yorkers."