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New Law Allows Everyone To Use NYC Streets As ‘Public Bathrooms’

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posted on May, 27 2016 @ 01:55 PM
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Looks like New York City wants to "de-criminalize" some specific offenses.

Some could cause more damage that they normally would.

One is public urination.

How will these changes be abused I wonder?

(semi biased article) ...
New Law Allows Everyone To Use NYC Streets As ‘Public Bathrooms’


Scofflaws of New York, rejoice — the City Council has cleared the way for you to litter, loiter and pee in the street to your heart’s content.

New legislation dubbed the “Criminal Justice Reform Act” was passed by lawmakers Wednesday, giving miscreants a get-out-of-jail-free card by eliminating the criminal penalties on a raft of quality-of-life crimes.

The disgusting and disturbing acts that the council voted to decriminalize include drinking alcohol out of a paper bag, lurking in parks after hours, urinating in the street and making enough of a racket to violate the noise code.

Under the legislation, which Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign, offenders will face only civil summonses instead of criminal citations….





posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:02 PM
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Oh please, the nyc transit system has been a rolling gender neutral toilet for decades.
One whiff and you'll never forget.


+11 more 
posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:02 PM
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Looks like New York City wants to "de-criminalize" some specific offenses.

Why the quotation marks?
Making something a civil offense rather than a criminal offense is indeed decriminalization. But it does not make it legal.

edit on 5/27/2016 by Phage because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:02 PM
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From what I gather from your source is that this is still considered a civil offense. They are just removing the criminalization of such disobedience. I have to say I have to agree that while such actions are offensive...it is not criminal intent.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:04 PM
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a reply to: xuenchen

It sounds fairly practical imo. Who are the biggest persecutors of these offenses? The Homeless I would imagine, and there are plenty of those in NYC and maybe NYPD is tired of their system being clogged by bums peeing in an alley. Do I agree this is the way to go? No I do not but, the homeless problem is not going away and with the way this country is being run (into the ground) it wI'll most likely become a bigger problem than it already is.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:09 PM
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Sounds like they are tied of filling their cells with drunks and homeless people...
But guess since it is NY it has to wrong?



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:09 PM
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It sounds about right to me. At least New York gets it. I figured only way through getting all these stories to stop bugging me re: public bathroom was to include everyone under the same door. Never occurred to me just knock that door down go where we want. I mean I usually do anyways. Just makes it more legit.
edit on 27-5-2016 by pl3bscheese because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:15 PM
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It seems (surprise) that the article cited by the OP is somewhat off base.


In enforcing misdemeanors and non-criminal offenses, the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) may either issue a criminal or civil summons, among other options. This bill states the Council has determined that criminal summonses should only be used for certain low-level offenses in limited circumstances, and requires the NYPD to provide guidance to its officers on when to use criminal and civil summonses, and make such guidance public. The bill also adds definitions for terms such as “civil summons” to create uniformity in the use of these terms throughout the Administrative Code.

legistar.council.nyc.gov...

So, there is not actually any change in the status of any offenses mentioned.In the past they could have been handled as either civil or criminal offenses, at the whim of the arresting officer. This law clarifies that status.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:23 PM
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I live in GB and until recently, 10 years ago, it was fully legal to urinate in the street. The "rules" were, you had to be discrete as possible and if there was a policeman near by he had to try to "cover" your actions.
An awful lot of people didn't know about this and it only came to their attention when it was criminalised.
But I must say with the influx of middle eastern immigrants I have seen with my own eyes numerous times their lack of, should I say, Toilet training.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:25 PM
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a reply to: xuenchen
I know a lot of people would like the states to be more like Europe.

Well now at least NY can smell more like Paris. And yes, I have been there twice. It is the most persistent memory I have of Paris.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:28 PM
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originally posted by: CynConcepts
From what I gather from your source is that this is still considered a civil offense. They are just removing the criminalization of such disobedience. I have to say I have to agree that while such actions are offensive...it is not criminal intent.


Don't you think this probably has to do with so many homeless people?

Not related in anyway to the latest hyped drama.




edit on 27-5-2016 by Annee because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:32 PM
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a reply to: xuenchen

I don't see an issue. They're not exactly encouraging people doing these things, simply changing them from criminal prosecution to revenue-generating offenses. I would much rather have people pay a fine for doing such things than to spend money prosecuting them as criminals, jailing them, etc. How ridiculous would one have to be to prefer most of these things be prosecuted in criminal courts??

Also, this...


The disgusting and disturbing acts that the council voted to decriminalize include drinking alcohol out of a paper bag, lurking in parks after hours...


Is drinking alcohol out of a paper bag truly "disgusting and disturbing?" LOL who is writing this, 17th century "Puritans?" What else are they worried about? Extremely vile and offensive acts such as:

Belching in public.
Unkempt facial hair.
Exposing of "vulgar regions" of the female anatomy (namely, ankles.)

Well done, NYC. (but people, please, really? Let's avoid urinating in the streets.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:34 PM
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I was in NYC recently and there are plenty of areas that reek of urine and poo. It really makes no sense to prosecute bums for it as long as they are walking down the middle of the street taking a wiz. The problem with NYC is that aren't any alleys like in Chicago. Our bums usually duck into an alley and piss on a dumpster discreetly. it isn't a big deal since most businesses don't want them funking up their bathrooms.

The worst is San Francisco and Portland which worships bums. Never seen so much human waste on a sidewalk as I have in those two cities.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:34 PM
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I wonder if the jails are full and police are already over burdened?
Where I live, the police wont even come to your home anymore if you are burglarised. My garage door was kicked in, and there was thousands in loss and damage. The Police department said just go online and make a report at our site. My neighborhood reeks of skunkweed. Multiple neighbors are growing in their homes and yards. The cops wont come. The electric company workers came to inspect the power lines in my yard. They said many people had money trees in their yards and didnt want to provide access without conversation that the workers didnt care. I remember when if anybody found out, you were going to jail.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:41 PM
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originally posted by: Phage

Looks like New York City wants to "de-criminalize" some specific offenses.

Why the quotation marks?
Making something a civil offense rather than a criminal offense is indeed decriminalization. But it does not make it legal.


I can agree on that, it's sensible, and allows police discretion I should imagine.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:42 PM
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a reply to: xuenchen

Semi-biased? lol

Before people start in with "but but liberals want to turn NYC into a public urination pigsty", we should try to look at and understand the new measure and WHY:


Backers say the changes will divert more than 100,000 cases from the criminal court system every year, avoid the issuance of 50,000 warrants annually and prevent nearly 10,000 people annually from having permanent criminal records. There are currently 1.5 million open warrants in the city, which has about 8.5 million residents.

"If you're in the park after hours you should get a civil violation," said Council member Daniel Garodnick, a Democrat. "If you have an open container you should get a civil violation. We will free up law enforcement and the criminal justice system."
Fox

This is a good thing, and makes sense.

Instead of clogging the courts with a bunch of BS cases like people pissing in public, or carrying around a can of beer, or etc, why not make it a civil matter? I suspect there is still a fine involved, but I'm not sure. We already have too many laws as it is, and it unnecessarily congests the judicial system with frivolous BS, so why not? It actually seems like they're wanting to make it so the government has LESS intrusion into things and return back to time when you might just get a ticket instead of being A) arrested B) forced to post bail (if you can afford it), C) go to court, D) pay court fees, etc.


Supporters of the bills said harsh penalties for carrying an open can of beer and other low-level, nonviolent offenses have a disproportionate effect on black and Latino New Yorkers.


edit on 27-5-2016 by Liquesence because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 02:55 PM
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The transgender stall can be reached by taking the 6 train to Fulton Street...easy wasn't it?
Cheers.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 03:11 PM
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I've been to nyc. It already is being used as a sewer.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 03:28 PM
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Oh yay, another non-issue being used as political troll-bait and entirely misrepresented by the media....news? tabloids. And then highlighted on ATS.

Well done.

I remember when ATS was a place for alternative media, which meant mostly stories the mainstream would refuse to go near. Just search the wayback machine I think circa '01-'03

Sometime after the people behind the standard mainstream propaganda machine news media, realized the coming impact of alternative thought disseminated through the internet.

And in turn we get "alternative media" aka:ATS et al, which is now just a reverberation of politicized BS, faux-outrage and divisive non-stories meant to split people in the middle. Stuff that was forever the bane of actual 'alternative media' outlets. It's sad that ATS is more mainstream than mainstream, becoming an echo-chamber for non-stories meant to do nothing but keep people chasing shiny objects.

Stay classy San Diego.



posted on May, 27 2016 @ 03:28 PM
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originally posted by: Phage

Why the quotation marks?
Making something a civil offense rather than a criminal offense is indeed decriminalization. But it does not make it legal.


Yeah Phage?... humm, I wonder how many miscreants will try to use this "get out of jail card" to fulfill their disgusting fantasies... Like some miscreant peeing in full view in the public park, or in the middle of the street meanwhile there are children or women around?...

Officer: "Sir, what are you doing with your penis in plain view of these women and children?"

Miscreant :"Hey officer, the law now says it is not a criminal offense, so I can do it... So, just give me a summons so I can go to the "new criminal reform school" where I will spend a couple of hours learning how to pee in public and get away with it..." (Never mind that the miscreant is already getting away with it)...

You know, even traffic tickets are a criminal offense. It is a minor traffic offense, but it is criminal. So now having miscreants pull their sexual parts in public is not a crime... Go, go New York... What will they do next, pay criminals for robbing people?...




edit on 27-5-2016 by ElectricUniverse because: add comment.



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