The NY Times has jumped onto the media's micturition messaging mid-stream, but unlike the Post's "blame the lawless homeless on de Blasio" agenda, the Paper of Record is delving into the world of public urination tickets: "Evidence pools beneath rows of pay phones, between parked cars, outside bars where last call has come and gone. The culprits can be found in any neighborhood of New York City: the West Village or Williamsburg, Chelsea or Elmhurst. And teams of plainclothes police officers, unsympathetic to the urge, know where to lie in wait. Sometimes."
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has recommended that minor offenses, like public urination, public drinking, etc., be decriminalized so offenders aren't served warrants for their arrest if they don't pay the fine. But NY Post owner Rupert Murdoch hates progressives, and the Post's editor-in-chief has noticed someone peeing his neighborhood. So there's been some push-back.
Besides finding a group of young men smoking pot and peeing near a park in Williamsburg, the Times finds a lawyer who specializes in public urination cases:
In many cases, the $50 ticket can be paid by mail, provided the person pleads guilty. That can create ramifications for job seekers and immigrants, said Jason Stern, 45, a lawyer who specializes in public urination cases. For example, he said, when applying for a green card, a person is asked to disclose anything more serious than a traffic infraction.
“None of my clients are hiring me to save themselves $50,” said Mr. Stern, who charges $500 to $1,000 per case and whose clients include working professionals, college students and taxi drivers. “Taxi drivers get a lot of public urination tickets.”
Stern also offers advice on his website, like if you don't mail in a guilty plea, there are three options: "Come to court on your court date and appear before the judge to have your case adjudicated; or Hire an attorney to come to court on your court date (in your absence) to represent you; or Do neither and have the judge issue a bench warrant for your arrest."
Here's an interactive map we created in 2013, using information from the NYPD's Records Access Division regarding how many public urination citations were handed out by each precinct in 2012:
As we wrote two years ago, "Williamsburg's precinct leads those in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with 1,181 citations handed out in the 90th Precinct last year. But exercise caution in Elmhurst, Queens, whose 115th and 110th Precincts pulled in 2,252 and 1,602 public urination citations respectively. Both of those precincts were profiled by the Times in October as the 'Corridor of Vice' in Queens, overflowing with bars, their drunk patrons, and eager Johns."
The Times looked at 2014 data, and found that the 110th Precinct, which includes Corona and Elmhurst in Queens, wrote 1,329 summonses for public urination, nearly 400 more than in any other precinct. Other public urination summons hot spots include East Harlem, the West Village, Bed-Stuy, Astoria, and Long Island City.
City Councilman Corey Johnson, who covers the West Side, lamented the situation and wants serious consequences to remain: "There is already a significant problem every single weekend with widespread, out-of-control peeing."
