Litterly Idiotic

We haven't commented yet on the idiocy of ticketing a six year old's hopscotch doodlings, but the editorial in today's NY Sun compels us to weigh-in as well. As we have said before, the focus on the city's poor business climate generally emphasizes the high levels of taxation. It is, however, equally important to emphasize the harsh-and so often irrational regulatory system that plagues neighborhood retailers all over the city.

It is not only the fines themselves-after all what can you say about a fruit stand owner who gets a thousand dollar ticket because his watermelons extended over the city's "five foot" demarcation line. It's also the adjudication process, whose rules must have been promulgated in collaboration with Franz Kafka.

The entire municipal code needs to be overhauled, and some real semblance of due process needs to be injected into the city's Byzantine administrative law process. Perhaps, the creation of a Debt Tribunal, separate from the agencies that issue the violations, would be a good first step.