Noting that there was no grid in sight, he was told, “You’re blocking traffic,” all the while cars were crossing the block unobstructed. The agent ordered him to pull over while she filled in the form to record the summons; she had him waiting in a spot where his car was double parked, now obstructing the flow of traffic. At the same time, another agent across the street was doing the same to another victim.
This was like musical chairs, the children’s game where, when the music stops, you sit and the one without a chair is out. When the light on Coney Island Avenue turns red, whatever cars get caught are out $115. Although one of the more outrageous incidents, you can find these traps throughout the city. And for many working poor, it is literally taking the food out of the mouths of their children.
Since the budget crisis of the 1970s when fines were placed in the general fund, each succeeding mayor has increased the frequency of tickets and the amount of the fines while denying there was a quota of summons to be fulfilled by police officers and traffic agents. We thought that Rudy Giuliani had been extremely abusive with this practice, but Mayor Bloomberg has taken it to new heights. Of course he has, since he has already anticipated the amounts and placed it into his budget.
When the quota comes down, this encourages precinct captains and traffic commanders, as well as individual agents, to be overly zealous and come up with new ideas to fulfill them, thus the traps all over the city. And, since you rarely, if ever, hear of this in the major media, Mr. Bloomberg brazenly gets away with these muggings as he waltzes his way to the purchase of a third term.
New York under Bloomberg is like the Wild West, where the chief honcho operates under his own law. Term limits is not the only example where he has subverted the law. This ticket blitz is immoral and abusive, placing undue hardships on those who can least afford. And let’s not forget the abuse of eminent domain.
Additionally, this ticket blitz serves to make the police and traffic agents who are on the front lines into the villains, alienating them from the general populace.
Bloomberg wields power as no mayor before. In business, this heartless, cutthroat way of operating is common practice; even his snubbing of the law, as we often see, is widespread in business circles. As a public servant, it is totally out of line and extremely cruel to those struggling to make ends meet in these harsh times. The problem is that he is able to buy, bully or ignore whomever he pleases, with very few exceptions. The City Council marches to his beat, as does the major media, keeping his sins a secret to those not intimately affected.
Surely, my friend’s experience was a mugging. If he were robbed by a thief, he would not have lost as much as the $115 fine. But our billionaire mayor is above the law, so rather than be punished for the crime, he will most likely be rewarded with the ability to purchase a third term so he can continue to serve the interests of his fellow billionaires and run roughshod over the general public.
