Tom Namako, the reporter I first contacted, got the green light last week to run the story about the NYPD handing out the goofiest tickets ever of “taking up more than one seat on the subway” at 2:30 am. Forget about the fact that MTA rules warn not to: “occupy more than one seat or place bags on an empty seat when doing so would interfere with transit operations or the comfort of other customers.”
At the time, I was furious about this. I went to a local copy shop, Impressions Printing & Graphics, and, after my second try, got the owner, Shabir Jafer, to donate 300 free copies of my story. I had some of my friends post them up around The Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, while I handed out copies in front of Times Square the day before I flew out for Cincinnati for Thanksgiving.
There was some journalistic issue about publishing it earlier because I only had one of the two tickets (I lost the first). However, a few weeks after I got them, I saw officers pull off two people from the train at 2:30 am on a weekday and take one guy away in cuffs and ticket the other for the same “infraction.” I went and talked to him and learned he was a 58-year old waiter who just got off working a long shift. Nice. There are bigger fish to fry.
So I called Tom at 3 am and left him a voicemail at his office telling him that the nonsense was still going on, and, as someone in the media, he could be a huge help by drawing attention to this situation. And he came through!
Anyway, the police have yet to turn in EITHER of my tickets to the Transit Adjudication Bureau (which they found odd) and for the ticket I WAS able to dispute, the judge dismissed it immediately and apologized for the ordeal.
While I'd rather get press coverage for... umm... my talent... there were dozens of hilarious comments about this MTA rubbish. The Gawker article is hiiiilarious. Here's where I found the story mentioned online:
http://gothamist.com/2009/12/27/no_feet_on_seats_rule_remains_in_ef.php
My absolute favorite comment was this:
"The guy is an FIT student from Ohio, which means he has been here, at most, three years, and he hasn't learned basic NYC behavior yet? The number of yokels putting their feet on the subway in the past few years has really increased. Maybe they think this is how NYers behave. If ticketing is what it takes to teach these newbies a lesson in manners, letting him spend a night in jail might even work better."
My absolute favorite comment was this:
"The guy is an FIT student from Ohio, which means he has been here, at most, three years, and he hasn't learned basic NYC behavior yet? The number of yokels putting their feet on the subway in the past few years has really increased. Maybe they think this is how NYers behave. If ticketing is what it takes to teach these newbies a lesson in manners, letting him spend a night in jail might even work better."
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