Sort of like 33 RPM records. Brian McGrath broke the news.
McGrath used to run the city’s traffic and parking department. He was representing the department Tuesday afternoon at a City Hall briefing with reporters about government-media relations.
McGrath’s apparently still a consultant to the department. And he informed reporters what we kind of guessed for years: Those impressive press passes the city issues to put in our windshield don’t really do much. They do nothing, actually. So the city’s going to stop issuing them.
But they do look cool. They make us feel important. So year after year, more and more of us request them from the police department. Journalists all over the state ask for them.
The practice of issuing the passes dates back to at least the 1920s, McGrath said, when they served a purpose at crime scenes. But now reporters can gain access to a scene with other press credentials — if they’re needed at all. Having a pass in the windshield doesn’t allow a driver to park by a hydrant or a bus stop. Nor does it prevent a parking enforcement officer from slapping a ticket on the windshield if the meter runs out.
Plus, unlike with other kinds of parking permits, there’s no city law that provides for press parking passes, McGrath noted. Legally, they “do not exist.”
Click on the play arrow above to watch McGrath expound on the subject — and let corporate journalists know their companies can, and should, shell out the coins for meters just like everyone else. (Note: Years ago, when he was still the city’s traffic czar, McGrath helpfully informed this reporter that, in his view, the purpose of the press passes was to let him know to make extra sure to issue a ticket.)
City policy does allow news outlets to submit tickets to be forgiven in one narrow instance: if a meter has run out while a reporter is in the middle of covering a fast-breaking news story. (A fire, say. Or the hiring of a new city consultant.) But as McGrath and Mayorga pointed out, you don’t need a pass in the windshield to submit a request to forgive a ticket. An editor can simply send in a ticket with a note. So as of this January, when a new year’s worth of passes would normally be issued, the city is ending the practice.
The taxpayers will save money. Even if a few journalist egos deflate a bit.
Meanwhile, mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga announced another new city policy: City department heads will no longer be able to talk with reporters without first getting permission from her office.