STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A petition started by a Staten Island resident is calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to remove Brian Levine -- the senior administrative law judge at the Traffic Violations Bureau -- from office.

The petition, which was started by local resident Michael Petrov on the website Change.org, had 784 signatures as of Thursday morning. Its goal is 1,000.

"Judge Levine shows [an] unjust, mechanical, [and] harsh attitude to the members of [the] Staten Island community. His high conviction rate, rude comments, [and] unnecessary harshness sets the whole community against his personality," the petition reads.

"We as [the] Staten Island community understand [the] necessity of [the] enforcement [of] traffic laws but we do feel that Judge's Levine's attitude shows [a] hostile attitude to [the] community members and we ask DMV management to replace this judge."

Petrov did not respond to a request for further comment.

This isn't the judge's first foray into controversial territory.

He routinely boasts the highest conviction rate of any traffic court judge in the city.

In 2015, the last year statistics are available, Richmond County had an 88.4 percent conviction rate on adjudicated cases for certain violations, while the state-wide rate of conviction for the same violations was only 69 percent.

In January, the Advance reported Levine convicted a motorist of making an illegal left turn at an intersection where the DOT admits it never put a sign -- despite the motorist presenting a letter from the agency's commissioner saying as much.

"This is in regard to the traffic controls at the intersection of Woodrow Road and Arden Avenue," a letter from DOT borough Commissioner Tom Cocola read. "A review of our Borough Engineering Office's records does not indicate a left turn restriction at this intersection."

The letter was dated Dec. 1, 2016. Carl Sansone lives in the area and got a ticket for violating the "No left turn" sign on Nov. 19, 2016, when he made the turn from Woodrow Road to Arden Avenue.

During the Dec. 29 court date, Judge Levine, a unionized employee hired under the Civil Service system, told Sansone that the dates didn't line up and ordered Sansone to pay the $125 for the ticket anyway.

Levine has also been accused of chastising those who come to defend themselves in his courtroom. Officials have even ordered him to attend anger management.

In a March 2011 arbitrator's ruling obtained by the Advance concerning an incident in 2009, Levine was ordered to attend a monitored counseling program to focus on "human relations" and "anger management" after a formal complaint was filed against him for wild outbursts during a routine hearing.

A message requesting comment left at a phone number listed for Levine was not returned.

A spokesperson for the DMV said the department was unaware of the petition, and could not comment on personnel issues.

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