An NYU grad student has finally won her battle with the city over $475 in parking fines racked up because a crew moved her car to an illegal spot to make way for a new bike-share station.
On April 30, Patricia Preston left her Honda Civic on East Second Street between avenues A and B, where she had to move it for street cleaning two days later.
When she went back, her car was gone — and a Citi Bike rack was in its place.
“It’s an absolute shame that it happened,” said Preston, 27, whose charges were dismissed in Traffic Court yesterday, meaning that she’ll get a $220 refund for the towing charges and won’t have to pay three other tickets, two for $95 and one for $65.
“There was no signage whatsoever,” she fumed.
She had initially appealed the charges, but a judge wouldn’t hear it.
Preston, who’s getting a master’s in education, spent countless hours on the phone with city transportation officials and her local police, hoping they’d hear her pleas for help.
Then the Department of Transportation finally admitted in a letter that it had been behind the move.
“Ms. Preston’s vehicle was legally parked on Second Avenue between Avenues A and B,” wrote Margaret Forgione, the DOT’s Manhattan commissioner.
“However, this vehicle was temporarily relocated by the department’s bike-share operator on April 30 for the installation of the bike-share station to an illegal location.”
The tow truck even parked her car backward — landing her a $65 ticket.
Preston presented the letter in a Manhattan Traffic Court yesterday, and Judge Margaret Malone dismissed the charges.
“It’s appalling,” Preston said of the ordeal.
“In general, who doesn’t support healthy living?” she added of the Citi Bike program. “But I’m too frustrated to give it my support right now.”