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Hey, this is a familiar story. Guy drinks beer on stoop. Guy gets ticket. And this guy goes to court. The Daily News reports that Prospect Heights resident Kimber VanRy will be in Brooklyn Criminal Court next month to contest the $25 ticket for sipping a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on the un-gated stoop of his Sterling Street condo. “VanRy said that as one of the cops played a video game on a cell phone, the other wrote him a $25 summons for drinking on the stoop &#8212 and allegedly told him not to worry because the ticket would likely be dismissed.” He pleaded not guilty to the ticket and got it reduced to $15, but it ain’t about the money. Drinking in public is illegal, as we know, but most folks don’t think a stoop fits the city’s definition of “public” as a place where “public or a substantial group of persons has access, including, but not limited to ‘a sidewalk or a street.'” Is this an issue the council should take up?
Prospect Heights Man Cited For Drinking Beer on Stoop [NY Daily News]
Photo by yadroff.


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  1. well i dont have a stoop, so i cant really answer that question. tho honestly i dont think id mind (tho i can understand reasons why others might mind, like if they had a family inside or something). im just a big fan of drinking in parks, trains (yes, i know whaaaa? sorry but if it’s a super long train ride to somewhere i like to enjoy it with a cocktail (usually in a gatorade bottle but whatever). you can drink on the metronorth trains! they even sell beers in bags right near the entrances. that’s great. tho kinda scary considering a lot of those metronorth commuters then get out and drive but i guess they probably didnt drink a lot.l.) okay i totally just lost my train of thought.

    *rob*

  2. Hey, Rob, as long as it’s tobacco, it’s cool with me.

    Regarding drinking on stoops, I think you have to ask yourself: are you okay with other people drinking on your stoop?

    I am guessing no.

    Go drink on your roof, if it’s that important. Or, put it in a coffee mug, genius.

  3. I’m pretty sure this is one of those “mail fraud” type laws that they use to get you when what they’re really concerned about is something else. Nation of Laws, and not of men, etc. etc.

    Not at all sure why a cop would write a ticket, then tell you to contest it.

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