Mayor Bloomberg Goes After Lawbreakers

I found a few items that I thought were interesting and worthy of comment. Maybe my readers will agree. Although these events happened in New York and reported in the NY Daily News, I think similar things could have and have occurred elsewhere.

A woman was fined $25 for gabbing with her neighbor, cited for "unreasonable noise." Apparently she and her friend opened their apartment doors and were talking when a housing cop approached and told them to quit babbling and close their doors. They didn't comply so the cop issued a ticket.

A comment to be made here is that if a cop tells you to shut up, it's in your best interest to do so. Secondly, the concept of "unreasonable noise" should have a place in the law. Many times I've endured incessant babbling and wished there was a way to stop it. Sometimes the noise is unreasonable when the person opens his mouth. One name that immediately comes to my mind is Dennis Kucinich.

Two barbers stepped outside their business to have a cigarette break and were ticketed for loitering. They were dumbfounded. Because it's illegal to smoke in public places in New York City, they asked reasonably, "What are we supposed to do? Go home to have a cigarette?"

The cop didn't care what they had to say. He just handed out the pink summons slip and said. "Blame it on [Mayor] Bloomberg."

Looks to me like grabbing a smoke break in today's NYC is a problem. People are going to have to go home or find a secret place to puff away to avoid being ticketed.

This episode prompts several comments. One is that the trend in the US is to totally outlaw smoking tobacco in public. California, Florida and New York ban smoking and, in Ohio there's a push to have a smoking ban put on the ballot in the next general election. I really don't have a problem with the majority determining the laws, but I do have some concern that tobacco smokers are being targeted as outlaws.

And, I have a big problem with the fact that, as we are prosecuting tobacco smokers for using a legal product, efforts at the same time are in progress to allow the smoking of marijuana in the same places that we are outlawing the smoking of tobacco. It doesn't make much sense to me.

This next item is totally outrageous.

A man was ticketed for "unauthorized use of a milk crate." He was sitting on it without authorization.

Apparently there is a label on the milk crate bearing the imprint of Sunnydale Farms and a warning which states:

"Use by anyone but registered owner is liable to prosecution, article 17A, General Business Law."

Because of this, the cop issued the ticket and indicated Mayor Bloomberg is to blame. The cop also said that he had to make his daily quota for tickets.

All three of the cases described in this posting appear to have rather weak justifications from a law enforcement standpoint and I couldn't quite grasp why these types of things were happening to law-abiding citizens. That is until I read the following:

The summons from hell came days after the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association charged that beat cops are under pressure to write tickets and meet illegal quotas to help pump money into city coffers. City officials strongly deny those charges.

Well, that explains everything and shows what a stinking worm Mayor Bloomberg is.