Editorial: Don’t do the crime if you can’t pay the fine

It’s going to be an interesting summer. New Yorkers are digging deeper to pay for a metro card, the sales tax on clothing is coming back—at a higher 8.625 percent—and garbage pick up will be scaled back to just two days a week.

The city is in the throes of a drastic fiscal crisis, the likes of which have not been seen since the 1970’s. Due to a lack of funds, the mayor is closing six fire stations, several senior centers and cutting back on funding to all city departments including education and police. Basically, the mayor is tightening the city’s belt.

Recently there have been reports that the police have stepped up their ticketing, citing the need to meet their quota—a set number of fines that have to be issued per day.

The ticketing blitz garners extra money for the city. As of last October the fines increased. What was a $55 fine for blocking the crosswalk is now $105. Double parking will cost you $105 as would a fine for idling at a bus stop.

More revenue is necessary, but it seems as though the city is grasping for anything that will keep us afloat.

Last week a Bronx man received a summons for the “improper use of a milk crate.” Can you believe it? The fact that this law was actually on the books much less enforced is ridiculous.

All this man did was sit on a milk crate outside his place of business. The police issued a summons and according to the man, the cop told him “blame Bloomberg.” The mayor cited this as a quality of life issue and defended the officer’s action, but gave no comment on the reported statement.

Since the city is going full steam ahead with their ticketing push the Horizon wants to provide a public service. Below you will find a sampling of some of the more obscure laws on the books that Highbridgians should look out for.

In New York State it’s illegal:

For a woman to be on the street wearing “body hugging clothing.”

A man can’t go outside while wearing a jacket and pants that do not match

A fine of $25 can be levied for flirting. This old law specifically prohibits men from turning around on any city street and looking “at a woman in that way.”

It is against the law to throw a ball at someone’s head for fun. A person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his/her pocket.

So these laws are crazy and the likelihood of them being enforced is far-fetched, but hey, just like the Lotto, you never know.

In the meantime, Mr. Bloomberg, in an effort to close the budget gap, let’s not forget about common sense.