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CBS2 Exclusive: 'It's Not Fair,' Safety Officer Slams De Blasio Over Tickets, Parking Placards

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- School safety agents were crying foul on Monday saying they were the victims of Mayor de Blasio's controversial plan to dole out more parking placards charging that they got tickets, while teachers got immunity.

CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer recently spoke with an angry school safety agent near Curtis High School on Staten Island.

"I don't feel like coming to work," he said.

He said he and other school safety agents there are victims of Mayor de Blasio's decision to issue 50,000 new parking permits to teachers and principals without identifying new spots.

After weeks of criticism, the mayor ordered a crackdown on abusers.

Now, he said, in de Blasio's New York, it's the men and women whose job it is to protect the schools, who are unprotected.

Here's the beef: eight school safety agents have NYPD parking placards, but were given tickets of $115 each for parking outside the school. Teachers parking in the same location were ticket free.

"It's not fair. It's not fair because they're only going to target us, and they're not gonna target no one else," he said.

The parking situation at Curtis High School is curious at best. Teachers have been allowed to park in the school lot, and illegally on the sidewalk, and grass. Safety agents assigned full time to the school cannot.

For decades they have been told to use their NYPD issued placards to park on the street outside the school in a 'no standing school days' zone.

He said the mayor's office has given teachers immunity.

The agent asked CBS2 not to reveal his identity because he feared reprisals, but union president Gergory Floyd has demanded mayoral action.

"It's not fair. My members received $115 tickets last week. Can they afford that? No. That could be gas for the entire month," he said.

Floyd said the mayor should have done a study before issuing so many new permits. He also wants the tickets rescinded.

A spokesperson for de Blasio said the tickets were issued as part of the mayor's promise to ramp up parking placard enforcement.

"If you're getting ticketed, you're parking in the wrong spot," the spokesperson said.

A spokesman for the NYPD said 11 of the tickets were issued at two schools on Staten Island on Friday. He insisted that none of the cars had a placard in the window.

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