Marty Markowitz Caught Stoop Drinking, Not Ticketed

Like "everyman" Kimber VanRy before him, Marty Markowitz is standing up for stoop drinking. The Brooklyn Borough President was caught red handed with a glass of white as he sat on a Brooklyn stoop for an interview on NBC's "Talk Stoop" segment. VanRy, who became the poster boy for stoop drinking when he was ticketed for it last year, told the Daily News, "I just think there's a clear double standard. A law should be applied blindly to everyone, or it should be deemed ridiculous and we get rid of the law."

Hear hear! The law is already confusing enough with Mayor Bloomberg declaring it okay to uncork some bottles of wine for concerts in the city's parks. So Markowitz appearing on a New York network, drinking on a stoop and declaring it "just a regular day in Brooklyn," is pretty mind boggling. He stood up for his stoop behavior saying, "I support a ban on drinking on streetcorners or walking around with a drink. But there should be some discretion. If you're just sitting there, on your own property, not bothering anyone—come on. It's just common sense."

Tell it to the men in blue, Marty. The NYPD have already ticketed 65,881 people this year for having an open container on the sidewalk, street or stoop. VanRy tells the officers to "Leave people alone. Because obviously, the leaders of the city don't care about this law.

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By Jen Carlson in News on July 20, 2009 2:20 PM

Comments [rss]

felldownthewell

You can only drink wines worth more than $40 a bottle, microbrews, or top shelf mixed drinks. Anything cheaper than that and you're getting a ticket.

Matt Joyce

NYPD quotas are illegal. If proof of them is brought forth the commissioner should face criminal charges. Stoop drinking tickets represent a violation of peoples rights. But in the long list of things the NYPD does that violate inalienable rights, and are outright illegal it ranks relatively low on the scale.

That being said. It would be nice if there was a body of law enforcement that could enforce laws on the NYPD.

harrisgraber

I'll drink to that!

NewarkStateOfMind

Why is a stoop considered public property? It doesn't fit the ordinance's definition. Furthermore, if a stoop was public property, the city would have to maintain it (snow removal, etc). And if the city tried to declare a piece of private property as "public", wouldn't that be a taking, entitling the property owner to reasonable compensation?

Seems pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, the folks that they cite don't usually have the cash to fight the ticket. It's cheaper just to pay the fine and forget it.

Dwayne Hoover

Maybe we should all own shotguns while stoop drinking.

They seem pretty effective at clearing an annoying police presence.

billybob

This would actually be a great advertisement run nationally for how lame NYC is now with it's over ticketing and over policing of everything. Bloomberg would ticket his own mother to make $.

Mr Mel

I think it's OK for white guys.

firewire

stoop-drinking tickets help fill nypd quotas and boost revenue.

but that doesn't mean it's a retarded law.

firewire

*not a retarded law (i love double negatives)

whitecastlerock

Just a regular day in Brooklyn-drinking on the stoop a few homicides what's the diff? he is such a useless piece of shit

Rach

It's not $165 per ticket, as far as I know. I was ticketed for drinking on a stoop on tribeca and while I had to go to stupid court for it, I only had to pay $15.

Then again that was almost two years ago, but I can't imagine they'd raise the ticket over ten times what I paid. If paulie had to pay $165 for real, something was definitely screwed up for one of us.

Rach

on tribeca... I mean IN tribeca, whoops.

paulie

65,881 x $165 = Over $10 million in revenue.

I *think* that's the ticket price. I got one a few years ago.

valeriob

If this fruitcake ruins wine in the park for me I will poop on his stoop.

ides_of_march

Stoops are private property, people should be allowed to drink on them if they live in the building, end of story.

When is the city going to start ticketing all the slobs I see littering every day?