Vikar & Mr. Wizard

The first of the RANT: RERANT forum

"Do you have your papers?"
- German Soldier to Tourists in Casablanca

"Jane, You ignorant slut!"
- Dan Ackroyd to Jane Curtain in the old SNL Weekend Update Point/Counterpoint

"I'll tell you nothing! You Nazi PIG!"
- Joan Rivers to her Gynecologist

June 5th, 2003

Welcome to the first of a new type of rant in RANT: RERANT as well as a point/point rant forum Mr. Wizard and I came up with. Today's topic came from an article that Mr. Wizard found from the Staten Island Advance.

2 Women Ticketed for Smoking on Train Station Platform
By KIAWANA RICH
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER

Donna DiMino of South Beach and Elizabeth Salvatore of Oakwood have learned the hard way that it's against the law to smoke on the platforms at Staten Island Railway stations -- and has been for years.

The two women were ticketed on May 10 for smoking on the platform at the Old Town station, as they waited for a train.

Ms. DiMino and Mrs. Salvatore, who work hard at being moms, had opted to take a rare night off and go out to celebrate Mother's Day. They were waiting for the train around 9:30 p.m. when they lit up their cigarettes.

That's when two plainclothes officers approached them, telling them it was against the law to smoke on railway platforms, and issued each woman a summons.

Ms. DiMino and Mrs. Salvatore, who don't take the train very often, said they had no idea it was against the law to smoke on the platform.

"I thought I'd be the last person to ever get a ticket. I was one of those people who never even got a detention in school," said Mrs. Salvatore.

"It was nighttime. It was dark. We didn't know," said Ms. DiMino, noting she saw no signs forbidding smoking.

They didn't even get a sympathetic ear from Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which operates the city's buses and subways.

As long as he can remember, Kelly said, it's been against the law for people to smoke on city subways and subway platforms.

"That's pretty much the way it has always been," he said.

Joe Kimbrig, a SIR superintendent, said the law has been on the books for the past 20 years.

With the city facing severe budget woes, police officers have reportedly been pressured to issue a certain number of summonses each month, according to police union officials and police sources.

The number of summonses a cop must write every month has remained steady, but the heat being placed on cops to meet those numbers has risen along with budgetary woes, union officials said.

City Hall and the Police Commissioner have both denied a citywide quota system exists, but admit that officers are given so-called "productivity goals.

There has been a frenzy of ticket-writing for seemingly oddball quality-of-life offenses -- a man was ticketed for sitting on a milk carton on the sidewalk, and a pregnant woman received a summons for sitting down for a moment on the steps at a subway station.

Ms. DiMino and Mrs. Salvatore believe they should have been warned rather than ticketed.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said he couldn't say whether or not they should have gotten off with a warning since he doesn't know the circumstances.

But that's not the end of the story. Although they plan to fight the tickets, the two moms point out that they aren't allowed to plead guilty and send in the fine. Regardless of how they plead, they are required to go to court.

For Ms. DiMino, that means having to take a day off from work. And Mrs. Salvatore must hire a babysitter.

"It's humiliating," said Ms. DiMino, who is a member of the PTA at her children's school and the Cub Scouts.

They also claim the officers asked unnecessary questions about their weight and eye color, and followed those questions with seemingly flirtatious comments.

The whole situation made them feel very uncomfortable, they said.

Mr. Wizard's Comment:

I sent the following letter to the paper's editorial section...

Are we supposed to feel sorry for two ladies who each received a summons for smoking on a train platform?

Perhaps they can use this as an opportunity to teach their children some valuable lessons. First, that ignorance is not a defense of the law – not knowing a law does not give you a pass if you break it.

Second, that when you break the law, don’t expect a warning – expect a summons (or worse).

Third, to take responsibility for what you do, or fail to do – pay the price when you break the law.

Granted, smoking on a train platform is a minor offense. The same can be said for littering. So should we all just throw our garbage on the floor and out the door? Maybe we’ll all get a warning as we live among the filth. I was ticketed once because the registration sticker on my car windshield was not glued to the windshield (the glue dried and came off, so it was merely taped on).

That sounded just as ridiculous, but I paid the fine – and I make sure it will never happen again.

Vikar's Comment:

On the one hand, I agree with you completely.

It's not like people have habitually been smoking on the subway platform anyway. It is clearly marked that you should not do this. Even I, in my worst smoking occasions, did not flagrantly thumb my nose at the no smoking law in the subway stations and trains.

It just wasn't considerate. Very much like churches were in the movie "Highlander", it is holy ground and should be respected.

On the other hand, New York City Pre-"Bloomberg idiocy" most likely would have let it slide. It is only one part of Mike Bloomberg's gestapo-like reign. Where smoking on a subway platform is definitely illegal and should be ticketed, there are extenuating circumstances to some of the tickets that have been issued. For example, this week one poor woman was ticketed for sitting on the subway steps. Granted, it is illegal. However, the woman was pregnant and desperately needed someplace to rest. Cue the storm troopers, there is now another opportunity to balance the budget of New York.

It is very similar to what George Carlin said 30 some odd years ago, "There is a $50 fine for spitting on the side walk... Vomiting is free."

My view on this entire thing is that it is the perfect opportunity for the mob to reintroduce themselves to New York. John Gotti may have died in jail but it does not mean that any mobster with half a brain won't succeed where he has failed. The New York Police Department, overtaxed (no pun intended) with more petty criminal behavior won't have the time or desire to go after the big fish.

Why should a cop who will most likely not get any kind of increase in salary and is now being introduced to the private sector's world of "I could be laid off any minute" philosophy of Bloomberg - try harder? I could tell you of some NYPD officers I know in New Jersey that have had two "luxuries" cut from their benefits: Weight room facilities and Laundry. They have found cockroaches now hitching rides with them on the way back home from work. The underground of New York isn't exactly the best place to keep clean. The cockroaches are an added benefit of the Bloomberg Administration.

The Weight Room, I think, is a definite necessity for the NYPD patrolman. After all, I'd like to believe that the cops should be in better shape than the criminals they are trying to stop. But in Mike Bloomberg's world, a fat middle aged patrolman is worth two rookies anyday.

Hmmmmm, where are the rookies anyway? Oh, that's right, there aren't any.

So, let's bring back the mob! Guliani and his ilk aren't around to stop them and I'm certain there is plenty of space in New York from citizens who are fed up for paying more than they should. The people of New York will not get protection from the police, lest they approach an officer and risk getting a ticket for loitering.

Mr. Wizard's Last Comment:

Once again you find a way to tie two different things together!

Two ladies ticketed for smoking on a train platform is not equivalent to a pregnant woman who needs a place to sit and sits where she shouldn't. No one would complain with the pregnant woman - "Damn she needs a place to sit." So would the elderly or the handicapped. Situation ethics. But there is a distinct difference between those needing to sit and those choosing to smoke. It correlates to Carlin --- you can't control when you vomit, but you can control when you spit. (Excessive alcohol notwithstanding, of course.)

The argument for cops to do something more important than giving smoking tickets is a poor one. Even if we had EVERY COP patrolling for rapists, there would still be rape. You have to put enough in each area to do what you can without sacrificing other areas. It's all inevitable.

Why should the cop try harder?

I try harder every day because it's the only way to ensure the continuance of my job. If it was up to the city they would keep the successful cops and fire the underperformers. Oh, I forgot, the union doesn't allow that. Why does the cop blame the city for his job risk when it's the union that makes it so time = job security.

Essentially doing more to turn people away from job performance than the city does by threatening layoffs! Ah, I won't get into a blame the union rant, because it's off-topic.

OK, we just completed our first edition of RANT:RE-RANT. Congrats! Now, what's the next topic?

Mr Wizard can be reached at mrwizard@vikarsrant.net