Fighting placard buildup

Parking placards, which enable public officials to put their cars almost anywhere they like, are an especially valuable commodity in cramped New York City. Small wonder placard fraud and abuse run rampant, years after Mayor de Blasio pledged to attack the problem.

Abusers steal parking spaces from other New Yorkers; block bike lanes, bus lanes and sidewalks; and perpetuate a culture of impunity among public officials, who are supposed to care about what’s legal.

With eyes wide open to his futility to date, de Blasio should sign nine worthy bills on the subject the City Council passed last week, measures that include creating a standardized system for tracking and issuing placards and giving the city’s Department of Investigation a greater role overseeing NYPD enforcement, which is chronically lax because traffic cops fear ticketing their peers.

Two problems remain.

One is that there are waaaaay too many placards issued: In 2018, three city agencies issued roughly 125,000 of them (44,000 by the NYPD, 50,000 by Transportation and 31,500 by the Department of Education). Some of those are warranted. Many are not.

Why on God’s gray pavement do 40-odd community board members get placards each year, according to records obtained by the Daily News? Why did some state electeds with city-issued placards have more than one in 2017?

The other problem: Only city-issued placards will be regulated by the new measures, while an untold number are issued by at least eight state agencies and authorities.

The state has got to wake the hell up too.