'Parking Wars' comes to North Hempstead

Slapping $55 tickets on the windshields of motorists hasn't won Silmara Marciano many friends, but Marciano said she doesn't mind.

"I know it's not me -- they don't know me, so I don't take it personally," said Marciano, a North Hempstead traffic enforcement officer who spent five years enforcing parking laws in New York City before coming to town last year.

North Hempstead will be the next battleground featured in "Parking Wars," the cable-television show featuring screaming motorists confronting municipal workers who have ticketed their illegally parked cars.

Daniel Flaherty, a co-executive producer of the A&E show, said North Hempstead was chosen because it's a densely populated suburban area close to New York City, in contrast with some of the show's more urban locations, such as Philadelphia and Detroit.

Shooting began this week on the North Hempstead episodes, which are scheduled to air in the fall.

Shawn Brown, the town's deputy public safety commissioner, said he spent a day riding with the television crew as they filmed in Providence before the town agreed to participate.

Brown said he thought the show would illustrate how difficult the job is.

"Nobody likes to get a parking ticket," Brown said. "We're an easy target for people."

Marciano has developed some ground rules over the years: Never argue with the motorist. Be aware of your surroundings. And always walk back on a different side of the street than the one you just ticketed.

The rules have helped spare her from some of the worst situations her co-workers have experienced. Brown said one officer's foot was run over last summer by a driver trying to escape a ticket. A week ago another was hit by dirt and rocks from a spinning tire, he said.

"If you give a ticket to them, they think it's personal," Marciano said.

On a recent weekday, Marciano and Brown, wearing matching blue polos and bright yellow safety vests, rode through Port Washington, sprinkling tickets among the cars parked on Main Street.

A woman emerged from a business carrying a dog, only to look crestfallen at her black SUV, which sported a newly written $55 ticket.

"I just got a ticket, and it just expired by a minute!" she wailed, but to no avail -- Marciano had already moved on.

In Manhasset, as Marciano ticketed a Mini Cooper in a no-parking zone on Plandome Road, a man yelled an obscenity and Marciano quickly looked up, sensing trouble. Bu the man was just a passerby talking on a cellphone.

But down the street, an angry man emerged from a business to see Marciano ticketing the car of one of his employees.

"Can you give a guy a break? He works here!" the man yelled at Marciano, who kept silent. "It's just not right!"

Brown said his officers routinely absorb abuse from the public -- although they do occasionally get accolades from people who thank them for patrolling the business districts.

"People get very emotional and they say all kinds of things. Nobody likes to be told, 'You did something wrong.' Especially today, you're reaching into someone's pocket and saying, 'You have to pay the government because we caught you.' Nobody likes that," Brown said."The toughest job in the Town of North Hempstead is being a parking-enforcement officer."