Are ticket agents lying in wait in Prospect Park, waiting for the clocks to strike 9:01 a.m. so they can begin ticketing dog owners who have yet to retether their once-legally free-roaming pets? Following a late-February tweet from FIDO Brooklyn about such a ticket-blitz, Fucked in Park Slope looked into the matter; they heard lots of hysterical stories—including one from a woman who was followed home by dog agents so she could show them her ID—but little corroboration. Is this one more example of self-important Park Slopers self-victimizing a case of ordinary city bureaucracy into a headline-grabbing witch hunt? I don’t know. Probably.
Of course, city ticketing agents have a history of targeting affluent neighborhoods, where residents are more likely to pay their fines. Bay Ridge drivers routinely receive an inordinate number of summonses for their illegally parked vehicles. (Not that I have a lot of sympathy for double parkers.) If this story of off-leash tickets proves true, it seems like another case of the city devoting precious resources to inane matters. (“Forget about that drunk driver plowing down a family—I see a bicycle running a red light!”)
FIPS commenter Bitter Steve sarcastically puts it in perspective:
As long as they don’t start ticketing freedom-loving Americans who drive 45 mph through the park on weekends. Or those guys who go into the woods for a circle jerk on the north side of the park. Or whoever is cutting the heads off the goats. Or the Freds on road bikes who blow through crowds of children at a crosswalk because “I’ve got the light.” Or that person who booked Kid Koala at the bandshell last year.
To which JPinBK adds, “or the people who gassed the geese.”
Seriously: I’d rather cops were actually working on shit that mattered rather than receive cheap “proof” that they are, in fact, working.
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Yeh! I passed a guy with his dog off leash at 11:23 am and i reminded him of the legalities of doing that. His response, well there aren’t any cops around. *duh* So i guess we only have t follow the law if BKPD has us face down on the pavement with their boot on our neck.
California Lemon Law
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