A “disgruntled” car owner slapped a “shame sticker” on a New York City Department of Sanitation vehicle in apparent protest over the alternate side parking punishment.
The giant neon-green sticker — meant to shame drivers who repeatedly fail to follow the parking rules – was affixed to the window of a DSNY vehicle parked on a sidewalk beside rows of townhouses, Catherina Gioino, a news editor for Fortune, posted on X Monday.
The nagging adhesive appears to have been placed on the city agency’s car by a “disgruntled car owner” who peeled off their own, a DSNY spokesperson told The Post.
“This was not affixed by a DSNY employee. It appears to be a case of a disgruntled car owner peeling off their own sticker and putting it on a DSNY vehicle,” the spokesperson said.
City officials began using the “shame stickers” in August, after Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer sponsored a bill to repeal a decade-long ban on the practice and let street sweepers humiliate the scofflaws.
The unsightly placards have generated backlash from New Yorkers and lawmakers, who argue placing the sticky note on car window constitutes vandalism, and removing them is a nuisance.
The fine print at the bottom of the shame stickers says vehicle owners should use “warm water and a scraper” to remove the placard.
“We remind all car owners that these stickers are a tool to encourage people to move their cars in accordance with the law so that our street sweepers can deliver the clean curblines that all New Yorkers deserve,” the DSNY spokesperson added about Monday’s incident.
“Our hope remains that Albany will pass a bill that allows automated camera enforcement so that we do not have to use these stickers.”
Assembly Member Steven Raga and state Sen. Julia Salazar have both sponsored a bill to crackdown on parking violations using automated camera enforcement.
ACE is already used through cameras mounted on MTA buses to issue violations to vehicles occupying bus lanes, double parked vehicles along bus routes, and vehicles blocking bus stops.
