Kent Zhang says he's complained about cars with parking placards taking up the spaces near his Mulberry Street restaurant for years.

"Distributors, restaurant suppliers, they deliver the things we need" said Zhang of Bodhi Restaurant. "They couldn't get into the street."

Now Mayor de Blasio says the city is expanding a crackdown on the use of phony placards and the misuse use of government issued parking placards outside of official business and he's issuing a warning to anyone who thinks a placard is a free parking pass.

"Right away Department of Transportation will be adding traffic enforcement agents" said de Blasio, "right away we will be working with the state to quintuple existing fines so that folks who violate the law will suffer the consequences."

The mayor says paper placards will be phased out by 2021 in favor of a digital system that will rely on scannable license plates and stickers.

"They'll be placed in the windows so you cannot transfer them from one car to another which is a big part of the placard abuse."

Officials also say workers will be held accountable.

"If a placard is misused three times it will be revoked forever," said Laura Anglin, Deputy Mayor of Operations.

It's welcome change to business owners like Zhang who says he's faced complaints from customers and extra labor fees from delivery services forced to park blocks away from his restaurant.

"I been in Chinatown for 15 years already so this problem happens always," said Zhang.

Officials say this is an expansion of a crackdown that started in 2017 and resulted in a 93 percent increase in summonses for illegal parking.