Scofflaw Marines make strategic retreat from White Plains

[Guest]

Scofflaw Marines make strategic retreat from White Plains

By RICHARD LIEBSON

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: July 28, 2007)

WHITE PLAINS - In a classic battlefield move, the U.S. Marine Corps has made a tactical withdrawal in the city's scofflaw war, pulling all of its recruiter cars with unpaid parking tickets out of town.

The maneuver came after Parking Commissioner Albert Moroni said he would impound and auction off any such vehicle found within the city limits.

"Currently there are no government vehicles operating within the city of White Plains that have a delinquent parking violation," Marine Capt. Donald A. Caetano wrote in an e-mail reply to questions from The Journal News. "Therefore, there would not be a reason to tow them."

Caetano, public affairs officer for the 1st Marine Corps Recruiting District, said in the e-mail that "the Marine Corps has a long tradition of upholding our nation's laws and standards" and that "we always strive to be upstanding members of the community."

To that end, he said, the Marines will continue to work with White Plains to bring parking ticket peace.

"We are still in discussions with White Plains and are committed to rectifying this issue," Caetano said.

The latest move comes after The Journal News reported yesterday that Moroni was planning to auction off a Marine recruiter's car that had amassed $4,850 in unpaid parking fines on 94 tickets issued since January 2006. The car was towed from the city-owned Galleria garage in April and is scheduled to be sold in a September "scofflaw auction."

All told, $93,805 in parking fines are owed on some 2,000 tickets issued to government-owned cars driven by Marine recruiters since 2001. In December, the newspaper reported that Marine recruiters are the city's biggest scofflaws, owing the bulk of the $111,000 on tickets written for federally licensed vehicles in White Plains. The city defines scofflaws as vehicle owners who receive three tickets in 18 months and fail to pay the fines.

"Of course the Marines should pay the fines - everybody who gets tickets has to pay," said Taurino Juarez of White Plains, who was shelling out $470 at the city Parking Violations Bureau yesterday to have a boot removed from his Ford Mustang. "The city doesn't give us a break, so why should they give the Marines a break?"

At the Galleria garage, Jennifer Balcone of North Castle removed an overtime notice from her car and said she would pay the $2 fee right away, before it escalated.

"I learned my lesson two years ago,'' she said. "I had to pay $800 to get my car back. The Marines should pay their tickets right away - it's cheaper and they won't stack up so much."

Moroni, who has described himself as "a reluctant warrior," said he has had talks with the Marines, the Army Corps of Engineers and the federal General Services Administration about the scofflaw situation, but so far hasn't seen any concrete results.

"If Capt. Caetano is serious about getting this settled, then I'm delighted and I look forward to seeing it happen," he said.

Caetano said that since the original newspaper stories appeared in December, the Marines and White Plains have put a notification system in place to prevent scofflaw problems from getting out of hand in the future.

Asked what impact the towing and possible sale of the "captured" Marine car has had on recruiting, Caetano said that while "the loss of any one car can be overcome, all resources that assist in recruiting are important, and we hope the city of White Plains understands this."

He added that Recruiting Station Albany, which covers the Lower Hudson Valley, "has been a successful area for Marine recruitment."

The Marines' tactic of removing their scofflaw cars is reminiscent of Gen. George Washington's series of strategic retreats in the 1776 Battle of White Plains, which eventually frustrated British and Hessian troops to the point that they marched back to New York City while Washington escaped to New Jersey.

Moroni yesterday said he won't give up as easily as the Redcoats did.

"It remains to be seen whether all of their scofflaw vehicles have been removed," he said. "We will continue to tow any that we come across. The city is not anti-military or anti-Marine Corps. This is something that's been caused by the bureaucracy.

"We are talking about a significant amount of money here, and I have no choice but to pursue it."

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Don't give up the base brothers!! lol. Gotta love us jarheads...always thinking tactically. Pay the friggin tickets Uncle Sam.

[BIGRED1 71]

just pay the tickets. I am sure Uncle Sam has the money somewhere to pay this off. or maybe have the guys who got the tickets pay them. i know it is alot of cash for one guy but i guess you should have paid for the parking in the first place.

[Guest]

White Plains is no joke with parking enforcement. There gaps in enforcement for some of the parking structures at certain times frames, but I had to find those out the hard way, paying probably $150-200 in violation tickets!