Shame is one of society's most powerful motivators (except when you're a billionaire). Mayor Bloomberg knows this, and that's why he told reporters yesterday that he will veto legislation that bans those giant yellow sanitation stickers the Sanitation Department slaps on scofflaw vehicles. "Stickers are an enforcement tool that have shown that they keep our streets clean and if you take them away there's no reason to believe that we won't go back to the dirty streets that we had before," Bloomberg said. Indeed it's a shame that Errol Morris' documentary, The Thin Yellow, Sticky Line, wasn't given the Oscar nod this year. more ›

Convicted drunk drivers may not be able to merely scrap their cars to avoid an ignition interlock breathalyzer and the long arm of the law. A new bill would require those convicted of DWI who don't install the devices to wear alcohol-detection anklets. The bill comes after Daily News reported that only 21% of those recently convicted of DWI in the city install the mandatory devices. A third of DWI-convicted drivers statewide comply with the law. "We believe many of them feel they can simply wait it out for six months," Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice tells the paper. more ›

Perhaps stoking the fires of mayoral candidacy, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly reacted to yesterday's news that subway fare-beating is the most cost-effective way to commute by calling for lawmakers to raise the MTA's current $100 fine for not paying. "I think the state legislature should consider raising the fine," Kelly told the Daily News, "It would probably be a good idea." OH, SNAP! You hear that, scofflaws? You'll be cowering from the long arm of the law in no time, "probably." more ›

In another dangerous yet vital lesson to our city's youth, it appears that crime does pay. According to an MTA study, fare beaters entered the subway 18.5 million times in 2009, an average of 50,684 times each day. If they're fined $100 every 6-13 weeks, that means the scofflaw is saving $62 based on the price of a weekly farecard. And that was in 2009 dollars! While the Daily News quotes the report as stating, "The basic street economics might explain observed evasion behaviors," we have a more succinct explanation: paying the MTA is for suckers! more ›

Before his sextacular political implosion, former Rep. Anthony Weiner was hard at work on a plan to make diplomats pay for their $18 million worth of parking infractions. Weiner may have turned out to be a hypocrite—he himself owed $2,180 in unpaid Washington DC parking tickets—in more ways than one, but his fight against diplomats' ticket exceptions was left hanging in the wind. But Forbes has taken to statistics and maps to better expose the sordid underbelly of what Andrea Peyser once referred to as those "malodorous, greedy, drunk and demented" foreign nationals. more ›

We've always wondered what would happen if you just said "screw it," and drove through the toll booth without paying the fare, laughing heartily into the sunset as George Thorogood blares through your cheap stereo. As it turns out, nothing. Until you rack up $5,254 in unpaid charges. The Port Authority is charging Staten Island resident Alfred Buono with $25K in "administrative fees" after he skipped through open E-Z Pass lanes 998 times without paying. According to the Staten Island Advance, Buono has been getting a free ride since March of 2003. more ›

The city has a bit of a budget problem currently, so it makes sense that Mayor Bloomberg is looking to turn over every stone for any extra revenue he can find. So to that end, the city is now going after nearly 4,600 municipal employees with 12,000 outstanding tickets worth a total of $1.6 million, in the biggest scofflaw crackdown in years. more ›

A gang of tween vandals were "tagging" their names in wet cement outside their school in Middlesex, New Jersey recently when the local constabulary happened upon them. Taking swift action, police collared the young hoodlums, took them downtown for questioning, and finally handed them over to their parents, who signed an agreement to punish the children and paid a $250 fine each—except the father of 11-year-old Kelly Zierdt, who is refusing to pay his daughter's debt to society. And now his little princess is being called before a judge to face justice. more ›

A few weeks ago, the MTA introduced a new Select Bus Service on the M15 line, where riders are required to buy tickets on the street to board. In an effort to keep things moving quickly, nobody actually checks or scans that you have a ticket, you're just expected to have one in case someone asks, or risk a $100 fine. Bloomberg assured the public that most people are good, upstanding citizens who would never dream of cheating the MTA out of a $2.25 fare. Raise your hand if you can guess what happened when enforcement agents were dispatched on the bus this week. more ›

New York water consumers (i.e. everyone) are about to take a bath once the City's Water Board follows through with its recommendation to raise rates by 14.5%, which it was scheduled to propose Friday. The rate hike proposal comes less than a year after the most recent increase of 11.5% in 2007. To its credit, the Water Board has been cracking down on freeloaders. After the City Council nixed a proposed 18% hike, water scofflaws who ignored their bills started to have their water shut off for the first time in modern memory. more ›