Fine Whine

Congratulations to Councilmember Simcha Felder who clearly recognizes that the city's enforcement mechanism has broken down. Felder, who represents the Orthodox Jewish sections of Borough Park, wants to reduce the fines on homeowners for first time offenses from $100 to $50. In addition, he wants to alter the hours of enforcement to times when homeowners aren't at work.

As he told the NY Sun, "It's no mystery why taxpayers have lost faith in an enforcement system that slaps them with astronomical fines for unpreventable tickets." It's certainly not mysterious to the thousands of stores and restaurants, as well as frustrated city parkers, who have to try to do business in a city where municipal agencies view them, not as economic engines, but as pinatas to be beaten in order to raise revenues for the city's treasury.