'They Make Law, Law, Law'

The New York City Council has decreed, mainly for aesthetic reasons, that every solid metal storefront security gate in the city must be replaced by a see-through variety. Pyung Lim Lee, a Brooklyn dry cleaner interviewed by The New York Times about the new requirement, nicely sums up the problem with this and every other meddlesome, picayune dictate dreamed up by politicians who do not have to bear the consequences: "They make law, law, law, and people's life is more difficult." But at least Lee has a sense of humor about the situation. "If the government pays," he says, "then OK."

Comments

[No Name Guy]

Yet another reason to avoid the shit hole at is NYC.

[Kolohe]

This is like a Bastiat stimulus squared.

[?]

When I moved to NYC, those gates were the only sign I ever saw of "the bad old days of 1970s-era New York" I was looking for in the weirdly abandoned-feeling imperial compound that got put there in its place by the mid-'90s. I loved those things, and only those things. Fuck that ex-city, yo.

[Mad Max]

No wonder crime has gone down while unemployment has gone up. These potential robbers are already demoralized from losing their regular jobs, and when they start thinking outside the box about a criminal career, they can't even case the joints they wish to rob, since there aren't enough windows.

[PapayaSF]

The article says it's to discourage graffiti, but if so, wouldn't it make more sense to force people to clean the graffiti off their solid security gates? That way if there's no graffiti there's no problem, and if it is a problem, the owner has a choice of keeping it clean or buying a new graffiti-proof gate.

[Zeb]

What if you want graffiti on your security gate?

[scott clark]

Mr. Lee is wrong to say that if the gov't pays, then its Ok. Where does he think the gov't got the money from?

[scott clark]

If the gov't pays, Mr. Lee would have to say, "They make tax, tax, tax, and people's life more difficult."

[Jersey Patriot]

Epic fail on the title of this post. It should read:

Brooklyn Owes the Charmer Under Lee

[Apple]

+ 2 points

[wingnutx]

Now you will have taggers figuring out how to put graffiti directly on the glass, through the openings in the gate.

I'm sure it will take some sort of high-tech equipment, such as a paintbrush on a stick.

[Andrew Lynch]

Don't know if this is true in other cities right now, but there's an unspoken rule among graffitists in San Francisco that if an establishment (Women's Building, murals in the Mission, several walls outside of cafes, liquor stores, etc) has been hand painted by one or more artists, it is not to be tagged. Period.

Perhaps NY would become a colorful place again if shop-owners simply hired local illustrators/painters to paint the 'fronts with something cool like Old-West shootouts, vistas from Sci-Fi books, flowery things, stylized portraits of celebrities, you name it. The painted buildings here draw a lot of tourist traffic and our graffiti problem is usually limited to the defacement of billboards and hideous structures. Win win win.

[dhex]

there's a ton of shit like that all over, bruh.

[bobzmoose]

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting really weird ads? Since I've unblocked the ads, I've seen stuff for "ACORN Online" (whatever that is) and other weird stuff. Heck, for this article, I've got ads for games and Korean dating services. WTF, Reason?!

[2999]

Korean dating services? Aren't the Koreans about as rich as Westerners nowadays?

Is South Korea that shitty?

[Colonel_Angus]

This may completely defy my libertarian ideology, but I fucking love graffiti. I even find it completely justifiable if it is on public property.

If someone paints graffiti on my property, it is my business whether it stays or gets the buff.

It is also my business whether I have a fancy victorian looking cast iron gate or an ugly roll up garage door on my storefront.

Has anyone thought about the possibility that the see-through grid variety of roll-up gate permits objects to pass through and contact the glass, or allow thieves better access to observe the contents of the premises during off-hours?

[Frankie D]

I live in NYC. Frankly, I love it, but I fucking hate the government. It should be the owner's choice whether they want to change or not. Government needs to stay out of people's business, and yet they never do. It's like having an annoying parent or teacher who thinks they know what it best for you, when they dont even know what's best for themselves.

Want to end the "graffitti problem" in NYC? Stop giving cops quoats to fill, legalize graffitti, and have small business owners, if they want, hire the artists out.

[Robert Hale]

"If the government pays, then OK."

Only if the legislators are paying out of their own pockets.

[MadBiker]

You've got it all wrong. This is going to be a positive thing, encouraging growth of technology, and finally bring to life the dream of manufacturing transparent aluminum.