The New York State Legislature has the city of New York up in arms. They have passed and send to the governor a bill that would effectively prevent the city from enforcing its scofflaw parking laws by towing vehicles. Are these people nuts? The sponsor of the bill, a Manhattan Democrat, says he wants to ensure that people don't have their cars, homes and jewelry seized if they had a value below a certain number. Oh fine – if the governor signs the bill, folks in NYC can just ignore their parking tickets, and the city will have no recourse.
"It is impossible to expect marshals and sheriffs in the field – even if they had a Kelley Blue Book – to be able to determine the value of a car after loans and other liens are considered," said a furious David Frankel, the city's finance commissioner. "This bill tells New Yorkers it is okay to break the law. They can obstruct traffic and hinder public safety."
But the Legislator's office responds:
This legislation will ensure that, in these tough economic times, low-income working families who go into debt do not become destitute and entirely dependent on state aid," said Justin Berhaupt, Schneiderman's legislative director.
This is an example of Dubya's famous comment to the NAACP:
"The soft bigotry of low expectations." The point he was
making is that giving extraordinary consideration to individuals or groups that
are considered lacking in some way is soft bigotry because it prejudges them as
less capable than the norm and thus unable to perform without special
assistance.
This is a horrendous law and deserves strong consideration for our Baghdad by the Bay award for stupid parking decisions as well as "stuck on stupid" actions by NY legislators.
JVH
