Councilman David Greenfield, who wants to ban the difficult-to-remove violation stickers the Sanitation Department places on illegally parked cars, told the Observer what he thinks about Mayor Bloomberg comparing opposition to the stickers to murderers who don’t understand why they end up in jail. “I’m certain the Mayor was joking,” Councilman Greenfield said. The Councilman also told us why he thinks the stickers are “cruel and unnecessary” punishment.
Mayor Bloomberg discussed the stickers during his weekly appearance on John Gambling’s radio show this morning.
“If people are complaining, then we should keep doing it. I mean–don’t break the law. It’s almost like, you know, you murder your parents and then you say to the judge, ‘But I’m an orphan, you can’t put me in jail.’ Don’t murder your parents, you don’t have, you’re not an orphan, and in this case, don’t break the law you don’t have to worry about it,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
The Observer asked Councilman Greenfield, who represents District 44 in Brooklyn, for his take on the Mayor’s remarks.
“I’m certain the Mayor was joking this morning when he compared those who accidentally park on the wrong side of the street to those who murder their parents in cold blood,” Councilman Greenfield said.
The Councilman also explained why he wants to ban the stickers.
“These stickers are no laughing matter to the more than 80,000 New Yorkers whose vehicles are defaced each year, and they surely aren’t smiling while spending hours trying to scrape it off. Perhaps people who murder their folks deserve this kind of punishment, but it remains cruel and unnecessary for the city to insist on sticking your car–on top of giving you a ticket–because your forgot to move it on time,” Councilman Greenfield said.
