The New York City Council voted 41-10 on Tuesday to bring back fluorescent “shame stickers” for cars that block alternate-side street cleaning, reversing a ban the Council itself put in place in 2011, according to the New York Post and a DSNY press release. The bill still requires the mayor’s signature before it takes effect.
Under Intro 92, Department of Sanitation workers will again be permitted to place an 8.5-by-11-inch neon adhesive on the driver’s-side window of any vehicle found violating alternate-side parking rules. The sticker reads: “This vehicle violates NYC parking regulations. As a result, this street could not be properly cleaned.”
Council Member Gale Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side and sponsored Intro 92, says the enforcement math has long since broken down: a $65 alternate-side ticket is routinely cheaper than a monthly garage pass, which has produced roughly 500,000 violations cited per week and left an estimated 3,000 miles of city streets uncleaned, per the New York Post. Brewer told the Post she now personally coordinates a monthly cleanup on West 83rd Street with sanitation crews and NYPD because the block cannot be cleaned any other way. “People need to move their damn car,” she said at the vote.
Brewer was also one of the council members who voted for the original 2011 ban. That prohibition followed complaints from drivers that the sticker adhesive was too hard to remove and sometimes damaged car windows. The last time stickers were in active use before the ban, DSNY figures showed street cleanliness averaged a rating of 94 out of 100, compared to a prior average of 73, according to a City Council committee report on the proposal cited by the New York Post.
DSNY Commissioner Gregory Anderson called the 2011 prohibition “a grave mistake” and said the reinstated program would give the agency “an additional tool to help us effectively clean the city’s streets.” In a department press release, Anderson added: “Selfish car owners who prioritize their convenience over clean neighborhoods will soon be peeling stickers off their cars, while also paying for a summons. Our goal is neither writing summonses nor using stickers. We want people to simply comply with the law, so we can clean streets across New York City.” Anderson also told a hearing earlier this year that adhesive technology has likely improved in the decade since the ban and that DSNY will test different sticker options to limit damage to vehicles, per the New York Post.
Then-sanitation commissioner Javier Lojan, also speaking at a hearing earlier this year, called stickers “the most effective things that we can do to deter vehicles not moving for alternate side parking,” according to the New York Post.
Delivery driver Lucian Coard, speaking to the New York Post on West 72nd Street, called the sticker “an overreach.” “It’s damaging, the adhesive is tough. To get it off, you gotta scrape it off,” he said. “It may lessen the amount of vehicles parked illegally but it’s not going to stop it. This is a hustle and bustle city: this is New York.” IT technician Eric Dillard told the Post the stickers are “a pain in the butt” to remove and said “some people are still going to do it anyway.” Doorman JP Plaza, 28, called the measure “a waste of money” and suggested the city simply raise the ticket cost instead. Former Councilman David G. Greenfield called Intro 92 “a blatant violation of due process,” per the New York Post.
The Council also passed Intro 31 the same day, which expands mandatory composting requirements to cover all businesses that generate food and yard waste, per the DSNY press release.
