Got dinged on Saturday. My fault, completely. Anyone else to commiserate?
Ticket Check In
- Thread starter Dennis
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what?
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I was pulled over by an officer of the law for a moving violation this last Saturday. I was wondering if anyone else has been ticketed of late and wanted to share a story. That is all my good man.
I was designated driver a few weeks ago when my wife and a couple of friends went to see a local band at a pub. When we left and I was driving away from the pub, my wife wasn't given me directions very well (she's more familiar than the area than me, and I forgot to bring my GPS), so at this one intersection, she said to turn left but quickly changed it to a right, so I didn't signal. The cop (out on DUI patrol) pulled me over and was just making sure I was sober and then let us go -- no ticket for not signaling though which is great.
I got a ticket for, get this, "misuse of a NYC litter basket," because I put my "personal trash" in a public trashcan. I was sent a letter informing me that I missed my court date on May 1 and I have to remit $130 to Environmental Control. The thing is, I never received a letter telling me that I had a court date. I had no idea whatsoever of the infraction, which apparently occurred on March 31, until Saturday afternoon when I opened my mail. Environmental Control could not tell me when they issued a letter informing me of a court date, because "that's handled by sanitation." I called sanitation and they can't tell me, either. My options are to pay $130, or print out some form to apply for another court date, get it notarized, mail it in and then appear in court some time in the future to plead my case. If I don't do either of these within 45 days, the fine goes up to $300. They, apparently, don't issue warnings.
Holy @#$%.
Holy @#$%.
That's just harassment, pure and simple, to bulk the coffers of the city.
My dad was stationary in his car with the engines off while on the phone and was fined for "dangerous driving".
ditto.
My dad was stationary in his car with the engines off while on the phone and was fined for "dangerous driving".
ditto.
Here's the thing: I am 100% guilty. I didn't know it was against the law and had I known, I wouldn't have done it; but I didn't know and I did do it. I do think I should have been issued a warning, but I realize that these... folks will take every chance they can to, like you said, "bulk the coffers of the city."
But here's my problem:
1. The letter I received on Saturday is so vague that, upon reading it, I honestly thought it was a scam. I thought it was some sort of mail scam by some prankster trying to swindle me out of $130. The letter says only that my infraction was "misuse of a NYC litter basket." That's it. There are no specifics. For all I know, they could have been accusing me of standing on top of the thing and doing an Irish jig. It has a code next to it. I looked up the code online and it's not on the Website. The only way I found out that it was because I put my trash in a public trash can was because I called the Environmental Control Board. The letter also makes no mention of a missed court date on May 1.
2. Like I said, I NEVER received any sort of summons (or whatever they call it) informing me of the infraction and telling me I was to appear in court on May 1. NEVER. And when I tried to ask the woman at the ECB, she totally ignored my question, deflected it to sanitation and danced around the subject. I said, "Ma'am, how can you not have a record of when you sent a letter informing me of my violation and my court date?" And she said, "You can plead your case before a new judge." She later told me that this issue is handled by sanitation. Sanitation told me it's handled by the ECB. No one can tell me when I was mailed a letter telling me I was to appear in court. No one has a record of any letter being sent, or, if they do, they don't want to share that information with me.
I think it's corrupt. I don't think they EVER mailed me a letter. I think the people I spoke with know I was never mailed a letter. I think the people who instituted this BS know that people have little recourse in this situation but to pay the $130. For me to have to track down a notary public and blah, blah, blah and appear in front of a judge and blah, blah, blah is a HUGE HASSLE and they know that.
I don't even care so much about the $130 at this point. I'm just pissed about how this is done.
But here's my problem:
1. The letter I received on Saturday is so vague that, upon reading it, I honestly thought it was a scam. I thought it was some sort of mail scam by some prankster trying to swindle me out of $130. The letter says only that my infraction was "misuse of a NYC litter basket." That's it. There are no specifics. For all I know, they could have been accusing me of standing on top of the thing and doing an Irish jig. It has a code next to it. I looked up the code online and it's not on the Website. The only way I found out that it was because I put my trash in a public trash can was because I called the Environmental Control Board. The letter also makes no mention of a missed court date on May 1.
2. Like I said, I NEVER received any sort of summons (or whatever they call it) informing me of the infraction and telling me I was to appear in court on May 1. NEVER. And when I tried to ask the woman at the ECB, she totally ignored my question, deflected it to sanitation and danced around the subject. I said, "Ma'am, how can you not have a record of when you sent a letter informing me of my violation and my court date?" And she said, "You can plead your case before a new judge." She later told me that this issue is handled by sanitation. Sanitation told me it's handled by the ECB. No one can tell me when I was mailed a letter telling me I was to appear in court. No one has a record of any letter being sent, or, if they do, they don't want to share that information with me.
I think it's corrupt. I don't think they EVER mailed me a letter. I think the people I spoke with know I was never mailed a letter. I think the people who instituted this BS know that people have little recourse in this situation but to pay the $130. For me to have to track down a notary public and blah, blah, blah and appear in front of a judge and blah, blah, blah is a HUGE HASSLE and they know that.
I don't even care so much about the $130 at this point. I'm just pissed about how this is done.
So what if you just plain don't pay it?
They have the silly speed cameras around town here (I honestly don't speed), but they don't count as a moving violation they are just a fine. If you don't pay it, I don't think there's really anything they can do about it.
So what kind of trash CAN you put in a NYC trash can? Public trash? I can think of a few politicians that would fit the bill.
I'd get in touch with the court. I am sure if you are summoned to court there must be a signed letter. Ask them when the court date was. I bet there wasn;t one. If there was, talk to the judge, or send him a letter,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/downloads/pdf/pubinfo/advisories/basket_illegal.pdf
Wild... How in the seven hells can they distinguish "household trash" from "pedestrian trash". I mean... if I brought a sandwich from home and need to dispose of the wrapper can I do that?
Wild... How in the seven hells can they distinguish "household trash" from "pedestrian trash". I mean... if I brought a sandwich from home and need to dispose of the wrapper can I do that?
The thing is, there's no specific court mentioned. I don't know anything about courts. There's a signature of an "administrative law judge," but it's illegible and the name is not printed. You would think that one of the departments responsible for issuing the summons would have a record of when it was issued, but they don't. And I swear to God, it's as though the woman with the ECB was deliberately dodging the question. I flat out asked her several times if they had a record of when the summons was issued and she would give me an answer that had nothing to do with the question: "You can plead your case to a new judge," "Your options are to file for a new court date or pay the fine."
The whole thing is totally designed to make it so that you can't fight it. It's as vague as possible to make it too much of a hassle. I genuinely, genuinely doubt that they ever issued me a court date at all.
I'm going to put forth a little bit more effort, but then I'm going to just relent and pay the thing even though it kills me to. I don't have the time to go Frank Serpico (or whatever) on them and they know that. And they keep the fine low enough that it sucks, but not enough that anybody is going to really investigate the issue.
Right?
I don't know how they identified me. I THINK it's because one of my bags had a piece of mail in it with my name on it. I don't know for sure, though.
I was violating the rule. I was putting my household trash in the street bins. I don't deny that. The thing is, I had no idea. Now that I think about it, I can understand it, yeah. The only reason I did it is because my building doesn't have a trash room (or any place to put trash) and the trash is only picked up three times a week. You have to physically drag your trash out to the street the night before like in the suburbs. All the other buildings I've lived in in NYC had trash rooms where you could put trash and recycling any day of the week and not worry about it.
That's another issue. According to the woman I spoke with in sanitation, the building is supposed to have a place for tenants to place their trash. She suggested I report the building. I've lived here for two months and I'm getting a preferential rent, so I'm not going to go that route.
Really, what makes me so angry is how the thing is so obviously set up to make it so that you're pretty much going to have to pay the $130 ticket.
Edit:
Oh, here's the other thing that irks me: When I moved into the building, I received NOTHING about what to do with my trash. Usually landlords will compile a packet of information about this sort of thing, but I received NOTHING. The way I found out was by calling the superintendent. Then I went online and Googled "NYC trash pick up dates" and found a Website where I could punch in my building's address and it gave me the days that trash is collected for my building. I shouldn't have had to do any of this. The management should have told me about this in a packet of information that I should have received soon after I moved in. Whatever.
Okay, I think I'm done.
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I managed to go almost 20 years without a ticket ... but in the last 12 months, I've been pulled over 4 times and received 6 tickets ... I haven't changed my driving habits, but the cops around here are getting more aggressive and writing tickets like mad all in the name of "Revenue Enhancement" for their respective townships.
It all seems to be concentrated in a fairly small number of communities, but they all border the military base where I work. so I can't avoid them.
Other people I work with have reported the same thing ... more tickets in the last couple of years than they have received in their whole life.
It all seems to be concentrated in a fairly small number of communities, but they all border the military base where I work. so I can't avoid them.
Other people I work with have reported the same thing ... more tickets in the last couple of years than they have received in their whole life.
The police presence in my city has increased 10-fold in the traffic enforcement arena. Other crime has started to increase (had a few shootings in the past month), I just hope it's not because we're pulling guys off more important work.
Because you pay for household trash removal (or your landlord does, at least), the city doesn't want people dumping their trash in public wastebaskets.
I remember it was a huge problem in Philly, trash would be overflowing onto the sidewalk around every bin. The city did indeed have people going through the trash looking for envelopes, bills, etc with identifying marks on them and sending them tickets.
I remember it was a huge problem in Philly, trash would be overflowing onto the sidewalk around every bin. The city did indeed have people going through the trash looking for envelopes, bills, etc with identifying marks on them and sending them tickets.
What if a piece of paper flew out your car window on accident and someone picked it up and threw it away?
Yeah, I understand that. I'm absentminded. I wasn't thinking about it when I was doing it. I just didn't know what else to do because I didn't want the trash in my apartment while I was waiting for trash day. All of my other buildings have had trash rooms where I deposited the trash and thought nothing more about it. Now that I actually think about "what if everyone put their trash in the street bins?" I can understand that it would be a huge problem.
That said, I don't agree with them ticketing me for a first time offense. I also think they should be doing trash pick up every single day.
But, again, at this point what bothers me is not the $130 ticket, but the fact that I missed a court date I was never informed of. How can I show up for court if I don't even know I'm supposed to be there? I actually would have gone and said, "Hey, I'm at fault and I apologize. I didn't grow up in the city. I didn't know. It won't happen again." I would have tried to talk my way into a pardon. But because I never even received the summons (and, again, no one can tell me when the summons was mailed to me), I either have to pay the $130 or go through a lengthy process to file for a new court date. It's really sleazy, in my opinion.
Last ticket I got was in 1981 for doing 30 in a 25 zone in Palm Beach....
In a tied off plastic bag with empty cat food tins and some dinner plate scrapings?
God help us all if you're guilty simply because a piece of paper with your name on it ends up somewhere near a crime scene.
Doesn't surprise me out of NYC though.
Although I am guilty, I am now totally paranoid about that, yeah.
Recycling is Thursday morning, so I have to put it out Wednesday night. I have a bunch of old paper products that I have in a plastic bag. It's a grocery bag from a grocery store. Now, the link you posted says it has to be a clear plastic bag. This plastic bag is not transparent, but it is sort of clear. So, I'm sitting here wondering if the damned bag is clear enough, or if they're going to tell me the bag wasn't clear and thus I violated the rule. Do I have to go out to CVS and find some clear plastic bags?
And, like, with mail... Let's say I get some junk mail, which I get a ton of. Let's say I'm going downstairs and I open my mailbox and I get one piece of junk mail. Let's say it's a catalog from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Can I put that in the trash? Can I put my one catalog that I don't want, that I didn't request, in the trash? Or do I have to bring it up to my apartment and keep it there for a week until recycling comes?
It's really absurd.
Recycling is Thursday morning, so I have to put it out Wednesday night. I have a bunch of old paper products that I have in a plastic bag. It's a grocery bag from a grocery store. Now, the link you posted says it has to be a clear plastic bag. This plastic bag is not transparent, but it is sort of clear. So, I'm sitting here wondering if the damned bag is clear enough, or if they're going to tell me the bag wasn't clear and thus I violated the rule. Do I have to go out to CVS and find some clear plastic bags?
And, like, with mail... Let's say I get some junk mail, which I get a ton of. Let's say I'm going downstairs and I open my mailbox and I get one piece of junk mail. Let's say it's a catalog from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Can I put that in the trash? Can I put my one catalog that I don't want, that I didn't request, in the trash? Or do I have to bring it up to my apartment and keep it there for a week until recycling comes?
It's really absurd.
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