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This is how NYC raises money - when the revenue dips they send out the sidewalk inspectors, health inspectors, tow trucks, etc. and write up a bunch of fines.

This is how NYC raises money - when the revenue dips they send out the sidewalk inspectors, health inspectors, tow trucks, etc. and write up a bunch of fines. Most restaurants have a way to signal the kitchen that an inspector has arrived and they'll quickly toss everything they are cooking into the garbage because it's cheaper than getting a fine. Former mayor Bloomberg's planned crack down on soda drinks was more about issuing fines for not serving precisely 8oz of liquid - though the next mayor dropped it and all the special order measuring cups for the health inspectors went to a warehouse. I've witnessed a fleets of NYPD tow trucks clearing out streets of UPS and Fedex trucks. They know what time the delivery companies hit various parts of town and they are ready for them. Recently the New York fire inspectors have started fining landlords for debris in the hallways (debris = amazon deliveries left at the door). So now if the delivery comes to the door you have to get it before the building super throws it away to save the landlord from being fined, if it gets left by the mailbox then the food delivery people steal it on their way out. No winning. About ten years ago there was a good samaritan going around feeding parking meters to keep people from being fined. He was arrested and taken to jail. They let him go without charges but not before he spent the weekend - because the person who processes releases doesn't work on weekends they said. I think he sued and ended up settling out of court.

rapind 5y ago
This is a really good point. You always need to look at incentives. It's OK for both society and politicians to benefit, but you should always dig a little deeper. Someone else in this thread pointed out "the city does not make getting the payout easy and it requires many hours of follow up to maybe get paid." So now we should be at least a bit cynical, and start asking questions about why it's so difficult to get paid. Maybe legitimate reasons like verification that they aren't just making it up I guess? If a fine is issued though then can't we simply assume the person reporting was being honest? Who benefits from a difficult collection process? A difficult payout process disincentivizes reporting, but only after you discover the hassle of it. So this could be a quick cash grab w/ dismal long term benefits once the word spreads. They should definitely fix that (assuming they want to).
systemvoltage 5y ago
NYC wouldn't be my first choice of a place to live. This sounds stressful.
- moogleii 5y ago
  I have never witnessed anything like his comment. If it happens, it hasn't directly impacted my living here. Still my first choice city in the US.
  - mancerayder 5y ago
    That's because you're, perhaps correctly, choosing not to own anything? If you rent and ride a bike and only ever take the subway and occasional Uber, then this stuff seems foreign. If you want to buy a property then you'll see for yourself the joys of bureaucracy. When you get a Kafkaesque fine that you can't reach a human being to talk about, and discover a byzantine system of 'expeditors' you might reconsider.
- nxm 5y ago
  Government bureaucracy at its best….
- LewisVerstappen 5y ago
  It's also just an incredibly filthy place to live. The streets all smell like piss and walking at night means seeing tons of rats. The subways are absolutely disgusting and there's always a car that reeks of shit (you can tell because that car will have far fewer people than the surrounding cars). I don't know if New Yorkers have never visited any other cities, or if they're just so blind from all the NYC-exceptionalism (Ayy if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere!!!) but that city is disgusting.
  - xxxtentachyon 5y ago
    Yes it’s definitely less than ideal that New York was built without alleys or some other means to store large amounts of household trash besides the sidewalk, but I disagree (at least with the severity) with the rest of this comment. A subway car that’s vacated due to smells, while it happens, is extremely rare, and the average station is just as clean as any I saw in Rome or Paris. There are definitely exceptions to that, and the worst case is worse than what you’d see in the rest of the developed world, but it’s still an exceptional experience to see something or smell something terrible in the subway system.
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
It baffles me that New Yorkers just bend over and take that stuff. In most places, when an identifiable group of people, (e.g. city government employees) is such a bunch of jerks to everyone they would normally be abused right back until they stop being jerks. Imagine if the government of Detroit acted that way. The inspector would come out to find their car on blocks three days a week and nobody would admit to having seen anything.
- bliteben 5y ago
  survivorship bias, in New York only the people who are rich enough to avoid all these rules or the ones who will bend over and take it are left. We literally just had a president who bribed the NYPD to get his concealed carry license.
  - tekknik 5y ago
    > bribed the NYPD to get his concealed carry license This is in the supreme court right now, hopefully it gets overturned and average people can start protecting themselves. We have the same BS law in CA…”prove you need a conceal carry, no death threats aren’t enough…”
- archhn 5y ago
  Nope. Usually people take it and take it until they can't take it anymore and go berserk.
briandear 5y ago
[flagged]
mancerayder 5y ago
Also Department of Environmental Protection issuing fines to house owners, sometimes big ones, because a random person dumped furniture in front of the house. Meanwhile, you have mounds of garbage at intersections for days, and debris that's permanent around government and NYCHA buildings. NYC's arbitrary enforcement schemes should make even the most ardent statist cringe.
- zxcvbn4038 5y ago
  I’ve had that happen before, while on vacation someone dumped rolls of carpet on my driveway and I got fined for not removing it, plus had to pay to have someone remove it because the sanitation department wouldn’t take it. The police said it’s usually a two-for. The people get paid to dispose of bulk items that the sanitation department won’t accept then they dump it in someone’s driveway and pocket the cash. Then they come back a few days later to see if it’s still there, if it is then they know the house is unoccupied and they’ll come gut it for copper. Luckily I came home before anything else happened.
mancerayder 5y ago
Here's another. There used to be people who'd cut slices into sidewalks using a hand held circular saw, and then reporting it to the city as a trip hazard, and then offering to fix it and get it resolved with the city. Being a house owner is a punishment in NYC.

rapind 5y ago

This is a really good point. You always need to look at incentives. It's OK for both society and politicians to benefit, but you should always dig a little deeper. Someone else in this thread pointed out "the city does not make getting the payout easy and it requires many hours of follow up to maybe get paid." So now we should be at least a bit cynical, and start asking questions about why it's so difficult to get paid. Maybe legitimate reasons like verification that they aren't just making it up I guess? If a fine is issued though then can't we simply assume the person reporting was being honest? Who benefits from a difficult collection process? A difficult payout process disincentivizes reporting, but only after you discover the hassle of it. So this could be a quick cash grab w/ dismal long term benefits once the word spreads. They should definitely fix that (assuming they want to).

systemvoltage 5y ago

NYC wouldn't be my first choice of a place to live. This sounds stressful.

moogleii 5y ago
I have never witnessed anything like his comment. If it happens, it hasn't directly impacted my living here. Still my first choice city in the US.
- mancerayder 5y ago
  That's because you're, perhaps correctly, choosing not to own anything? If you rent and ride a bike and only ever take the subway and occasional Uber, then this stuff seems foreign. If you want to buy a property then you'll see for yourself the joys of bureaucracy. When you get a Kafkaesque fine that you can't reach a human being to talk about, and discover a byzantine system of 'expeditors' you might reconsider.
nxm 5y ago
Government bureaucracy at its best….
LewisVerstappen 5y ago
It's also just an incredibly filthy place to live. The streets all smell like piss and walking at night means seeing tons of rats. The subways are absolutely disgusting and there's always a car that reeks of shit (you can tell because that car will have far fewer people than the surrounding cars). I don't know if New Yorkers have never visited any other cities, or if they're just so blind from all the NYC-exceptionalism (Ayy if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere!!!) but that city is disgusting.
- xxxtentachyon 5y ago
  Yes it’s definitely less than ideal that New York was built without alleys or some other means to store large amounts of household trash besides the sidewalk, but I disagree (at least with the severity) with the rest of this comment. A subway car that’s vacated due to smells, while it happens, is extremely rare, and the average station is just as clean as any I saw in Rome or Paris. There are definitely exceptions to that, and the worst case is worse than what you’d see in the rest of the developed world, but it’s still an exceptional experience to see something or smell something terrible in the subway system.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

It baffles me that New Yorkers just bend over and take that stuff. In most places, when an identifiable group of people, (e.g. city government employees) is such a bunch of jerks to everyone they would normally be abused right back until they stop being jerks. Imagine if the government of Detroit acted that way. The inspector would come out to find their car on blocks three days a week and nobody would admit to having seen anything.

bliteben 5y ago
survivorship bias, in New York only the people who are rich enough to avoid all these rules or the ones who will bend over and take it are left. We literally just had a president who bribed the NYPD to get his concealed carry license.
- tekknik 5y ago
  > bribed the NYPD to get his concealed carry license This is in the supreme court right now, hopefully it gets overturned and average people can start protecting themselves. We have the same BS law in CA…”prove you need a conceal carry, no death threats aren’t enough…”
archhn 5y ago
Nope. Usually people take it and take it until they can't take it anymore and go berserk.

briandear 5y ago

[flagged]

mancerayder 5y ago

Also Department of Environmental Protection issuing fines to house owners, sometimes big ones, because a random person dumped furniture in front of the house. Meanwhile, you have mounds of garbage at intersections for days, and debris that's permanent around government and NYCHA buildings. NYC's arbitrary enforcement schemes should make even the most ardent statist cringe.

zxcvbn4038 5y ago
I’ve had that happen before, while on vacation someone dumped rolls of carpet on my driveway and I got fined for not removing it, plus had to pay to have someone remove it because the sanitation department wouldn’t take it. The police said it’s usually a two-for. The people get paid to dispose of bulk items that the sanitation department won’t accept then they dump it in someone’s driveway and pocket the cash. Then they come back a few days later to see if it’s still there, if it is then they know the house is unoccupied and they’ll come gut it for copper. Luckily I came home before anything else happened.

mancerayder 5y ago

Here's another. There used to be people who'd cut slices into sidewalks using a hand held circular saw, and then reporting it to the city as a trip hazard, and then offering to fix it and get it resolved with the city. Being a house owner is a punishment in NYC.