I'm honestly surprised it's taken so long to decriminalize jaywalking in New York City. I mean, it's a tradition in The City That Never Sleeps, so I'm not sure why they went and turned it into a race thing.
Supporters of the law say people of color were unfairly targeted for jaywalking by police. City data shows police gave nearly 800 pedestrian-related summonses in the first six months of the year with 77% of them going to black or Hispanic people.
Love the new law, hate the reasoning.
A jaywalking ticket would previously run a New Yorker $250 bucks, but no longer will this ticket be handed out.
The new law decriminalizing jaywalking sat on Mayor Adams's desk for 30 days without a signature or a veto, so apparently that means it passed.
Here's the councilwoman who drafted the law:
Press reports and data analysis from the council have found that jaywalking tickets are disproportionately given to black and Latino New Yorkers … Certainly no one can claim that only black and Latino jaywalkers ever jaywalk so, just wanting to understand that a bit better.
Again, I don't know why we had to go with the race card to get this thing scrapped.
But at least now we have another item to add to the list of things that are racist: Jaywalking tickets.
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