By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — What difference does five minutes make on Manhattan's streets? Not much, some New Yorkers say — at least when it comes to alternate-side parking or paying the Muni Meter.
A new law requiring parking ticket agents to allow for a five minute grace period that pitted Mayor Michael Bloomberg against the City Council last year went into effect this week, and in its first few days few New Yorkers seem to have noticed.
“In Manhattan, they’re vicious!" Laura Catana, a 24-year-old Queens resident who frequently drives into Manhattan for her landscaping business, said of the borough's ticket agents. "So, five minutes? I don't think that’s going to make much of a difference.”
Bloomberg was against the bill that would allow for extra time to move cars for alternate side parking or an expired Muni Meter, saying, “a five-minute grace period is only going to lead to chaos,” the New York Times reported. But the City Council was overwhelmingly for it, overriding the mayor's veto with a 47-2 vote.
Supporters such as Council Speaker Christine Quinn believe that the grace period will help alleviate the number of tickets being given out — something New York City drivers have been complaining about for years.
Upper East Side resident Gerald Iannaccone thinks the grace period will just make people complain more.
“People will take advantage of the five minute thing, and then they’ll say five minutes isn’t enough and they need more time,” he told DNAinfo. “You know, in this day and age people have cell phones and know exactly what time it is accurately."
