Results tagged “stoop”

Last year residents of a Perry Street townhouse, one that is home to Carrie Bradshaw in a fictional world, put up a chain and a sign threatening away any fans taking photos on the stoop. Since fans allegedly are ignoring the sign, they have added a new one. This time around it's attached to a money drop box, and asks if you take a photo, to donate to a charity for orphaned animals. Hear that Carrie fans? For every photo you take, and dollar you don't donate, you are killing kittens and puppies. VanishingNY spotted the new system, and calls for a new tax in the city: a Tourist & Yunnie Nuisance Tax.

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."

Looks like there's going to be a lot more ink put down on the whole public drinking debate, The NY Times has now talked to Kimber VanRy--the man ticketed two weeks ago for having a beer on his stoop. At the time VanRy said he would likely just pay the fine, but after all the attention he's now pleading not-guilty at a November court appearance.

“I think this is a real gray area. I don’t think I was doing anything wrong.” He questioned the notion that his stoop is considered a “public place” as defined by the law. “It’s one of those laws that a lot of people know it’s there, but how heavily it should be enforced is a question."

The gray area comes partially from Mayor Bloomberg himself, who stated that uncorking a bottle of wine for a concert in the park is a-okay by him, not to mention he was photographed this past May drinking a glass of wine at Brooklyn Bridge Park!

The confusion about public drinking continues! It's illegal, but Bloomberg created a huge gray area when in 2003 he declared that wine consumption at Central Park concerts was a-okay. Now Brownstoner focuses in on stoop drinking after a Park Slope man received a $25 open container violation ticket for enjoying a brewskie "after Biden's speech" when a patrol car with an observant cop came by. The officer "explained that if I was behind a fence or gate I would be ok. Since we don't have a gate, the set-back from the sidewalk didn't matter." The NYPD press office hasn't responded to our question about whether stoop drinking is okay yet, so we'll take that as a yes. Besides, in 2005 the NY Times all but encouraged stoop parties.

Well Sex and the City fans, any hopes you had of sitting on the Carrie Bradshaw's stoop are now being dashed by the people who really live in there. The Villager reports that "Last week, residents won a reprieve, when, on July 15, the largest of the tour operators, On Location Tours, announced it would take Perry St. off its route." Sure, your MySpace, Flickr and Facebook photo albums are going to be an utter embarrassment if you're lacking the carefully posed shot of you and your best gal pals sitting on the 66 Perry Street steps, but wipe those tears, your mascara is running -- and besides, there's plenty of time for photo ops while waiting on line outside Magnolia Bakery! [via Curbed]

Drinking in New York has long been reserved for private homes or establishments with liquor licenses (or speakeasys!), but how well is the law enforced when it comes to drinking on a stoop or in a public park? Apparently, and unfortunately, the law is still being upheld very well. A few years back the tabloids wondered why cops looked the other way when it came to Chardonnay swilling audiences listening to the symphony in Central Park, while the beer-drinking crowd at a 9/11 memorial in Rockaway incurred plenty of fines.