Okay I am SO annoyed!! On Saturday morning I got an alternate-side parking ticket on Adams St near Water St. The whole curb line is under sidewalk shed and black construction netting. The pole with the sign — and honestly I'm not even sure which pole is the official sign anymore! — was completely wrapped up. There was a small white paper sign taped to the plywood about 20 feet up the block, but it looked like a work permit. I only found it after the ticket was already on my windshield. I took a million photos, including from where the car was parked. Has anyone actually beaten one of these with photo evidence? I'm ready to fight this thing! What's the best way to submit everything?

Been there. If your photos show the sign was not visible from a normal walk to the car, you've got a real shot. With construction sheds, the city is supposed to keep signs conspicuous, but they mess that up all the time. The catch is the hearing officer might say you should've walked over and checked the plywood. Don't pay the ticket before your hearing — once you pay, it's basically closed. Use the online portal, upload the photos, and write something like "sign was obscured by construction netting." In my experience, halfway decent photos get the fine knocked down or thrown out.

Wait, so you can fight a ticket even when it isn't a clear mistake? I always figured if the ticket was on the windshield it was just done. I got one in Bay Ridge last spring when a big van was blocking the sign and I just paid it because I didn't want a late fee. Did you have to appear by phone or video, or is it just all uploads? Also, do you have to leave the car where it was until somebody comes to look? Sorry if that's a dumb question — I'm still figuring out city stuff!

Your best defense is that the posted signs did not give adequate notice, not that you didn't see them. At a hearing, the city wants evidence that a careful driver exercising ordinary attention would not have seen the restriction. If the sign was covered by construction net, your photos should show three things: the location where the car was parked, the sign pole from that location with the netting covering it, and a close-up of the paper sign taped to the plywood — especially if it was small or looked like a permit board. A short video walking from the car to the first visible sign is even better because it establishes line of sight.

Include the date, time, and cross street. If there was no other visible sign on the block, say so: temporary parking signs sometimes get moved without the city updating anything. One caveat: if another sign fifteen feet away was completely visible, your argument gets weaker. Avoid saying "I didn't know that sign." Say "the sign was not visible from the closest legal position." Keep the statement to three sentences and attach everything through the portal.

Unpopular opinion but you may lose the first round even with photos. Hearing officers see construction in half of Brooklyn, and plenty still say the driver has a duty to check the whole block for temporary signage. What matters is whether the sign was visible from the car, not from the sidewalk 20 feet away. If that paper sign was at eye level on the plywood, they'll ask why you didn't walk over. You can help yourself by showing there was no way to know that particular board was a parking sign rather than a permit board. There was an earlier thread Prewar gas oven dial says 350, thermometer says 425 — am I the problem or is the thermostat shot? about whether an oven dial was off or the person was reading it wrong, and this case has the same structure: is the signage actually defective, or were you not looking for it? The city assumes the latter.

I won one like this in Gowanus. Whole block was scaffolded and the sign was behind a ladder, plus a vinyl banner from the contractor. I put three photos in the portal: one from the curb showing my car and the covered pole, one close-up where you could barely read the corner of the sign, and one from across the street showing no visible sign line. Ticket got dismissed without a live hearing, though it took about four months. No late fees while it was pending. If you can, grab a Google Street View screenshot from before the scaffolding went up, showing the old sign, and compare it with now. That helped me because it made clear the sign moved from the post to the plywood.