New York City is about to become a lot more disgusting
By Michael Gartland
New York Post
May 26, 2016 | 12:59am
Scofflaws of New York, rejoice — the City Council has cleared the way for you to litter, loiter and pee in the street to your heart’s content.
New legislation dubbed the “Criminal Justice Reform Act” was passed by lawmakers Wednesday, giving miscreants a get-out-of-jail-free card by eliminating the criminal penalties on a raft of quality-of-life crimes.
The disgusting and disturbing acts that the council voted to decriminalize include drinking alcohol out of a paper bag, lurking in parks after hours, urinating in the street and making enough of a racket to violate the noise code.
Under the legislation, which Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign, offenders will face only civil summonses instead of criminal citations.
The main part of the “reform” act sponsored by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito deals with reducing the penalty for public urination and other quality-of-life offenses. It passed by a 40-9 vote in the liberal-leaning council.
It aims to keep offenders from getting a permanent criminal record and requires the NYPD to “develop guidance” for cops on when to issue criminal instead of civil summonses.
The council also passed other bills as part of the act that will re-codify offenses committed in parks to civil violations from misdemeanors, set littering and public-urination fines between $75 and $450 and allow administrative courts to mete out community service instead of fines. The new laws could be in effect within a year.
Opponents of the legislation warned that the changes could lead to a quality-of-life backslide.
“We don’t want people to think it’s OK to urinate in public,” said Councilman Steve Matteo (R-Staten Island). “We want there to be real consequences because there’s a big difference between a criminal fine and a civil fine.”
Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), who voted in favor of the bills, urged “hysterical” critics to reconsider how criminal records picked up over minor offenses could hobble young minorities’ “access to financial aid and higher education.”
“These essential elements of a decent life .?.?. can be easily blighted by the lingering stigma of a criminal record,” he said.
Before the vote, Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) told reporters she didn’t need to horse-trade with the administration or the NYPD to move the bills, but neglected to mention that the council successfully pushed to hire more than 1,200 new cops during the last budget process.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said he “got what I wanted for my officers” in the legislation.
“They retained the right in every instance to make an arrest if appropriate,” he said.
Additional reporting by Sarah Trefethen
