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How Open Government Data Saved New Yorkers Thousands On Parking Tickets
jfruh (300774) writes "Ben Wellington is a New Yorker and city planner with an interest in NYC Open Data, the city's online open government initiative. One thing he noticed in this vast dataset was that just two fire hydrants in the city generated tens of thousands of dollars a year in tickets. The sleuthing by which he figured out why is a great example of how open government data can help citizens in concrete ways."
There have been some detractors along the way; a senior attorney for the NYPD said in 2012 during a council hearing that releasing NYPD data in csv format was a problem because they were “concerned with the integrity of the data itself” and because “data could be manipulated by people who want ‘to make a point’ of some sort”.
...this would be resolved. It's clear from the first picture there's two competing rules. It's marked by the city as valid parking, but there's a fire hydrant. Which law supersedes the other? Probably the fire hydrant law, but a decent judge would have understood how the mistake was made and would throw out the ticket. If the city paid attention, they'd know to fix the space so as not to waste their meter maid's time.
But nobody bothers to fight their tickets anymore. If you receive one that makes 100% sense, go ahead and eat it, but when there's some doubt, like this, fight it!
That's awesome. Good work Ben Wellington. It's amazing what the "sort" button in Excel can do.
You could also paint your fire hydrants fire engine red or bright green so people would notice them instead of the blackish brown in street view. But seriously, if you have a hydrant on the sidewalk, you should have some sort of marking in the space saying its illegal rather than the standard markings.
There was a fire hydrant on the sidewalk, with a bike lane between it and drawn parking spaces. In US cities you can only park where there is a parking space explicitly drawn, so this spot had exactly what you were looking for and people parked. And got ticketed. And this happened all the time, since it looked like a perfectly fine parking spot, but the NYPD disagreed. Apparently no-one had complained loud enough (I'd think such tickets would be very easily contested), but when this guy blogged about it after seeing the data and it went viral, the DOT fixed it relatively quickly by marking it as a no-parking space.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Why is he left wondering why the DOT didn't analyze the parking ticket data? BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE TO. DOT and their associated fines act as the Executive, as opposed to the Legislative or Judicial Branches.
It's trendy to consider society as a single organism in which everyone works for an optimal outcome, but the approach is flawed. The DOT is not in the business of analyzing which parking areas generate the most money, if anything, they should be in the business of optimizing the parking areas which make the LEAST money.
+1 for geekiness and making the data accessible, but righteous indignation is really out of place and show a remarkable degree of insulation from the real world.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
NYers aren't saving $55,000/year over this, they're going to be paying the loss of income in additional local taxes instead. Saving taxpayers' money requires cutting costs somewhere, which this clearly doesn't do.
I thought people take the subway or the taxi. I didn't see any parking lots or garages in New York City / Manhattan. I didn't see any cars parked along the curb. I must be missing something.
Glasses, I assume.
Whenever "too many" tickets are issued for the same offense, the city should investigate doing something at that situation... too many tickets at a certain hydrant equates to time to move that hydrant or build a parking space in the area.
There's still cars in NYC... without them transit usage would have to be expanded to the point it might not work.
That doesn't sound good for their economy. The city needs the money.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
How NYC has to increase taxes because of "increased costs" of Open Data, which will amount to about 60-100k a year...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
He deprived the city government of thousands of dollars. He should be made to pay back double of what he effectively stole.
The person writing the tickets saw the obviously incorrect DOT marking and did nothing. The like that people were being trapped. They probably found it easier to meet quotas. Ignoring this obvious issue is egregious and this person/people should be punished.
"Hacker arrested for stealing $57,000 from NYPD"
"After breaking into government computers and accessing unauthorized data, in much the same way that Aaron Swartz and Andrew Auernheimer did before him, notorious terrorist Ben Wellington manipulated government records to steal over fifty thousand dollars directly from the people of New York City. In the interests of protecting freedom and democracy, SWAT teams arrived at the homes of Wellington, who hides behind the non-de-crime of "I (redacted) NY", along with members of his immediate family and his dog who was shot while trying to resist arrest.
"The criminal mastermind is being held without trial in a secure, undisclosed location and has been denied access to telecommunications equipment for fear that he might use a pay phone to break into the Pentagon and whistle the correct codes to launch nuclear missiles at Mayor Bloomberg."
"The Attorney General's office then went on to congratulate itself for protecting freedom everywhere, and urged everyone to enjoy their new twenty gramme chocolate ration."
...how the city most likely deliberately ignored the parking issue because they were bringing in so much money. There is no doubt that they knew what was happening and made a conscious decision to leave things as they were.
Government at all levels have become adversarial as those who are employed by it seek to protect their revenue stream at all costs.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
You've obviously never been to Manhattan. There's cars everywhere here. Half of them are taxis though. There's lots of cars parked on curbs, plus there's garages all over the place.
Maybe you should try actually visiting the city before making completely uninformed comments about it.
The law against parking in front of hydrants is, presumably, to allow easy access for the fire service in case of fire. The fine is only a means to enforcing this, and making the city safer. Not, for example, raising revenue not an act of hydrant-worship by city officials. So by getting the city to make it clearer where the hydrants are, and thus keep them open for use, he has made the city a safer place. That is actually more important than saving fines. Maybe, one day, someone will not be burned to death because the fire service ran out of water as a result of this,
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
A few minutes using Google Earth or the like would have shown him what it's like there.
I glanced at the Google Street View link in the ITWorld.com article, and the 2007 imagery for that location shows that the bike lane didn't exist at that time... and likewise, it shows that nobody is parked in front of the hydrant. Move forward, and all three of the subsequent snapshots of that location show cars (which were no doubt all ticketed) parked alongside the newly painted bike lane, directly adjacent to that hydrant -- but more interestingly, the photos also show "no-parking" markings on the street leading up to just a bit before that hydrant. At a glance, any reasonable person would interpret the street markings to indicate that parking there was perfectly legal, and expected. And really, how much more than "a glance" do most people give to their city parking, when they're probably already late for work?
That said: I wouldn't necessarily go straight to NYPD malice for the explanation. Seems to me, someone in the DOT simply wasn't paying enough attention to his surroundings when he designated the street re-painting requirements, (oops) and low-paid NYPD traffic cops simply discovered and took advantage of the situation to easily meet their ticket quotas, without ever really asking or caring about the "why."
that instead of white striping off an entire space, you white stripe the 3 feet of access area needed in front of the hydrant so the hose can be attached to the hydrant (in other words, change the alignment of the adjoining spaces ...|...........|X|..........|... instead of ...|...........|XXXXXX|...........|...
I actually RTFA and was shocked with the police comment about releasing data because "..people would use it to make a point."
Shocked is probably the wrong word to use, because at this point I expect it, but it was surprising that the police would be so public about their desire to not release data because people would use to redress their grievances with them.
Ah, you're one of those dimwits who stop in dangerous places to make phone calls, and think it's OK because you put your hazard lights on.
It's because of people like you that others use their cell phones while driving. Only parking in front of a hydrant is dangerous - if you're just stopped you can quickly move out of the way of the fire hose.
Only partially. Yes, you'd see the parked cars on the streets with that, but the garages you won't see with a satellite view so much, you'd have to screw around with Street View a lot to see them. But when you're there and walking around, you see the parking garages all the time. They're frequently hidden under buildings, so you only see the entrances from the street.
How Open Government Saved Hundreds of Lives by Keeping a Fire Hydrant Unblocked
Saving money for residents is great and all, but the bigger win is the fact that cars are blocking fire hydrants less often now.
Maybe something about big how data helped NYC enhance protection of life and property.
I've seen pictures of firemen smashing the windows of cars parked in front of fire hydrants and running the hose right through. Basic revenge, I guess.
As it should be. Why shouldn't the taxation and services provided by government be clear rather than obfuscated with road markings that contradict written rules. I much rather raise taxes and have clear markings than have to read 60,000 regulations for every municipality I visit.
Guess that would be the alternative headline. It really isn't in the city's interest to release the data. People have to be vigilante now to ensure they don't stop providing it.
This should be a throw the damn meter maids and other officers who were writing tickets for that spot in jail for conspiracy. They should have been turning in work orders for the the roads department to fix the paint arrangement.
Same fate should befall any judges who were presented with pictures of the spot as defense by people ticketed there.
Most of our government problems can be quickly remedied by apply the law equally to government agents. Arrest them regularly for fraud and conspiracy when it is easy to prove and the incentive to be corrupt goes away.
I remember walking by a few lots las time I was there. Some would have been visible from above; others, maybe only Street View would have shown. But yeah, the underground garages wouldn't be easily visible from unless they caught a vehicle coming in or out.
There aren't that many above-ground lots left, and most of them have machines in them which stack the cars. But yes, they would be visible from above.
All the fire hydrants I have ever seen in my life, have been yellow or red. How come the fire hydrant shown in those pictures is such a dark colour? Is that the norm in NY city?
I like my dinosaurs feathery, and my pterosaurs hairy (or is it pycnofibery?)
... and lost. That data would expose how many citizens are indifferent or simply don't speak up and how many in government (courts, cops etc.) never actually listen to the complaint and just pass summary justice. Great story!
If snow covers the hydrant manhole, not to worry. If it's a real fire, it will melt the snow. If the fire isn't all that big, there are other solutions.
Either way, the firemen can extinguish the flame with their large hoses.
Not to be taken seriously. Several smoke eaters in the family, gone to fight the big one down below.
--
If it's not on fire, it's a software problem.