NYC teachers struggle with parking, tickets and…
For 10 years, Janet Elias shelled out $100 a month to an Alley Pond, Queens house owner for a coveted amenity: a assured parking spot in their driveway every day from 7:30 am to 3 pm.
A New York City public college instructor since 2005, Elias was a technology teacher at close by PS 46, where she routinely struggled to discover areas, even within a 30-minute stroll of her job.
“God forbid it snowed—forget about it. Then you were really screwed,” Elias told The Post.
Janet Elias, a retired New York City Department of Education technology instructor who taught at Wagner Middle School for 22 years, poses in North Hills, N.Y. Kim Max for NY Post
Now retired, Elias continues to advocate for current teachers online and at metropolis council conferences. She calls the parking debacle one of her top points — and current educators say the issue has only gotten worse.
Teachers in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx told The Post their mornings are dictated by a mad, and maddening, scramble to discover parking.
They wake up over an hour earlier than their commute requires, realizing they may spend 40 to 50 minutes circling neighboring blocks like a crow looking out for a wayward salami slice.
Some said school-zone residents intentionally park in methods that box out teachers, annoyed by their own lack of spots — or hoping to encourage teachers to use their meager salaries to rent a “space” in their personal driveway.
One metropolis official, who declined to remark publicly, said teachers ought to take into account taking public transit, or even biking straight to their school rooms, arguing that this issue is moot because many educators hop the subway.
Elias is now an advocate for current teachers online and at metropolis council conferences, calling the parking debacle one of her top points. Kim Max for NY Post
But that method isn’t always sensible, Elias said, particularly for teachers who commute from Long Island or work in hard-to-reach college zones requiring a number of transfers.
According to 2024 New York City census data, practically 50% of DOE employees take public transportation, in contrast with 21% who drive, while only 2% commute by bike — even as the town continues to add miles of bike and bus lanes.
The issue has gotten worse as new constitution and personal colleges continue to multiply like Mamdani-ignored potholes, all without designated college parking. And because no official data exists on how many faculty-reserved areas exist citywide, it’s unattainable to say how many teachers go without a key useful resource each day.
Neither the Department of Education nor the Department of Transportation would inform The Post how many teacher-assigned areas truly exist.
A faculty parking lot is pictured outdoors M.S. 88 and P.S. 295 on 18th Street and seventh Avenue in the Park Slope neighborhood. Paul Martinka
But blackboard veterans say looking for curb space seems like a second job — one they’ve to do on top of their traumatic, demanding duties as Gotham’s hard-working educators.
One 38-year-old South Bronx instructor, who requested that his title be withheld, said his workday doesn’t start until 7:35 a.m., but he wakes up at 5:15 a.m. to guarantee he has enough time to park safely.
The veteran instructor, who has labored for the Department of Education (DOE) for 14 years and commutes 40 minutes each method from Yonkers, said parking has always been troublesome.
Still, it worsened last 12 months when police officers told college workers that school-side parking — once the last “safe” bastion for teachers — was reserved strictly for college buses.
“A landlord complained about all the cars in the surrounding area due to the school,” he told The Post. “The officers let us know that the parking signs in front of our school were for school buses only.”
A police presence is seen in entrance of J.H.S. 167, Senator Robert F. Wagner Middle School. Angel Chevrestt
Since then, he said, teachers have been slapped with tickets topping $150 — an particularly merciless transfer because buses don’t truly park in their designated lanes, leaving them empty all day.
Out of desperation, the instructor lamented his parking woes on TikTok, drawing the eye of a local assemblywoman. Still, no answer has appeared.
“I’m just hopeful that we can get our street signs changed so teachers can park in front of the school and continue to serve the amazingly brilliant children of the South Bronx,” he said, exhausted.
For teachers working in newer buildings, acquiring extra areas could not even be an option.
The United Federation of Teachers says DOE parking areas and areas are capped citywide. Plus, even if a college relocates to another building, it might probably’t “transfer” its designated areas to the new location, leaving even more educators in a lurch.
@mseliaschicgeek For years, these educators parked in the same space close to their college. Without warning, the DOT eliminated their parking access and started issuing fines. No discover. No grace period. Just tickets. Teachers already spend their own money on classroom provides and work long hours supporting our college students. They shouldn’t be penalized in a single day because the principles modified without communication. This state of affairs wants consideration and a honest answer. At the very least, these tickets needs to be reviewed and dismissed, and colleges needs to be given clear discover when parking insurance policies change. Let’s stand up for our teachers. They deserve better. @News 12 @Zohran Mamdani @UFT@ABC News @cbsnews @nbcnews @TODAY Show #BronxTeachers #AssistTeachers #NYCTeachers #Bronx #NYCDOT ♬ authentic sound – mseliaschicgeek
At the brand-new Queens Innovation Center on Northern Boulevard, one high-school instructor, who declined to be named, told The Post that teachers have been scrambling.
The campus, which opened in September 2025, has no sensible parking option for staffers, she said, forcing some teachers to hunt for areas at close by companies, including McDonald’s, Staples and a local procuring heart.
How are these teachers rewarded for their dedication to New York children? By being towed.
The closest parking zone to the Queens Innovation Center is positioned across Northern Boulevard from the varsity and is reserved for prospects of the companies pictured, slightly than public parking. Kim Max for NY Post
“Folks have been booted,” she told The Post, noting that even though the $178.8 million college advanced has state-of-the-art science labs, an Olympic-sized gymnasium and a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, it still couldn’t add a parking zone for its teachers and workers, many of whom are paid the naked minimal wage for NYC teachers.
The dispute over New York City instructor parking goes back practically 20 years.
In 2007, the Department of Education issued more than 63,000 parking permits for roughly 25,000 DOE parking areas, according to court data.
Cars of teachers fill the McDonald’s parking zone across Northern Boulevard from the Queens Innovation Center in Woodside, Queens, N.Y. Kim Max for NY Post
But the Bloomberg administration slashed that quantity to fight alleged abuse by metropolis staff, accused of hogging road parking and contributing to congestion and pollution.
And now, thanks to outside eating sheds and Citi Bike repositories, even those fortunate enough to have a allow don’t always discover curb space.
“It’s terrible. I would leave at 5:50 a.m. to get there by 6:30 a.m. to look for a spot for four years before I finally decided to pay $100 a month to rent a spot,” one former PS 62 instructor, who requested to stay nameless, told The Post.
The Long Island native commuted daily to Chester Park, Queens, where she taught second grade. She said the issue worsened over her 5 years at the varsity.
“All the teachers felt the same way,” she told The Post. “We weren’t able to get teacher [parking passes] because it was in a residential area, and the people that live there would park in such a way that you couldn’t fit.”
Some teachers imagine the issue displays a bigger systemic issue with metropolis officers.
Elias said she believes the mayor and other metropolis officers ought to do more for educators. She referenced the proliferation of bike lanes taking over curb space while teachers battle over what stays.
“If he’s going to start providing childcare for municipal workers, he should provide parking for teachers,” Elias said.
The Mayor’s Office didn’t reply to The Post’s request for remark. Neither did the SCA or the DOE.
“This has been going on for 23 years; nobody cares,” said Elias, the retired educator who’s still combating for her colleagues’ curb space.
“In all my years as a teacher, I never felt the city made us a priority.”
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