Fun City grimace

When the government plays "gotcha" with its citizens, it deserves all the payback the little guy can provide. I'm touchy about images of cruelty to animals, so I won't say what happened to me one day last week was "the straw that broke the camel's back.” But it snapped my patience out of all proportion to the 50 bucks it set me back. 

I got a ticket in the mail for going 36 mph on a major street that's practically a highway  where there are no intersections, businesses or residences. The camera peeked out of the leaves of an overhanging tree branch.

Like most reasonable New Yorkers, I'm all for safety enforcement, but not entrapment solely for revenue enhancement. Now I understand the new art of license plate tampering. It's a temptation and almost an ethical imperative. When the government "gets over" on its people, the people must return the compliment.

The exponential escalation of insults to our quality of life is part of the reason that people are fleeing the city. It's like walking around for a long time with a low fever. It takes a toll on fighting off the infection of low morale.

Among the wisest lessons that many immigrants over history have brought here from their "old country" is a healthy mistrust of government. Patriotism is impossible without it. 

Skeptics are generally law-abiding at heart and begrudgingly compliant with the government's petty overreach. They know what to expect and how to get around it to some degree, so they are less prone to disillusionment. Sometimes they're pleasantly surprised when a large bureaucracy displays some isolated and anomalous human sympathy, 

Tranquility in New York went through some rough times in the ‘80s. But it was within striking distance of paradise compared with the present. Those urban "slices of life" undermined but didn't wreck our confidence in the long-term future.

If New York were a cinematic caricature of a fictional dystopian modern city, it would win every Academy Award. There's nothing left at the Concession Stand. But when we have anarchy in the shampoo aisle, and ear-wax remover has to be secured like the suitcase of nuclear codes, things have gone too far. If your CVS were the Tower of London, a bottle of Tylenol would be harder to steal than the Crown Jewels. 

It's Bizarro World.  

Security guards who confront shoplifters are violating the terms of their employment because they are honoring their job description. Some have been arrested on a shoplifter's unverified charge of mistreatment. The language used to describe the crime is purged of any implication of moral judgment. The dominant rule for classification of crime is a euphemistic label.

Even shoplifting is a crime of violence, though it is mostly economic. Higher prices must be paid by New Yorkers who often have fewer possessions and are as down-on-their luck as the "boosters.” They must also offset the hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from the MTA by fare-beaters.   

This is no longer a town for commoners. We are proletarian patsies. The pillagers are royalty.

Random and unprovoked crimes of grievous violence against innocent strangers often don't meet the new standard for detention of assailants caught in the act. Law enforcement decisions are often politicized (arguably they always were) and media coverage is driven by editorial orientation.  

People who, without mitigating circumstances, willfully and forever destroy the lives of their victims, should never be released in their own recognizance. Still, the precept of innocence until proven guilty must be tenaciously upheld.  

There must be no means test for the granting of bail, no matter the charge. Eligibility for bail should be based exclusively on the seriousness of the alleged crime.  

There must not be multiple systems of justice based on economic status, affiliations or anything else. In both the short term and the long-haul, all bigotry is inexcusable. There is no collective guilt. There is no collective innocence.

The closing of Rikers Island is another folly that was made inevitable not merely by philosophy of crime and punishment, but by the self-destructiveness of people in charge of its operation. Already there have been seven suicides among inmates this year. The complex is condemned as a failure in almost every area of assessment. But the solution is its administration, not the physical plant itself.  

The buildings are not themselves criminals. Sprinkling jails around the boroughs and shoehorning them into residential communities sounds humane. Perhaps the fears of neighborhood families will not materialize, but they are legitimate and sincerely held perceptions that the city is treating with contempt and condescension. 

"Broken windows" policing needs to be restored though seriously modified. Safeguards to gauge and assure equality of treatment are essential, together with swift and effective sanctions against abuse of authority. But official zealotry needs to be curbed. Vandalism is one thing. Public urination is quite another. I once had to flash a knock-off credential so that the concierge of a building would let me use the toilet. The homeless have the same bodily functions but fewer options.

Mainstream journalism is not necessarily jaundiced, but its coverage of controversial stories is often anything but straightforward. Sometimes the truth is inherently one-sided. But our media tends to be calculatingly interpretive when presenting cold facts. We shouldn't feel comfortable with slanted coverage even when the slant comports with our own deep convictions of truth. 

The cruel neglect of mentally ill people, often disguised as compassion and respect for their liberty, is a catastrophe for the afflicted. Tens of thousands of hospital beds have been eliminated in New York. Although that was a despicably cynical decision of the state, the city has done nothing but talk the talk. Lip service doesn't stop people from jumping off bridges.

We must act compassionately even to people of whose impulses we may sometimes need to be wary.

The management of the migrant influx is an issue that is almost impossible to raise without igniting often deliberate misunderstanding and accusations. But many New Yorkers who must scrap for minimal social services, housing and their next meal are being denied because of the prioritization of migrants. And revenue is not an infinitely renewable resource.  

Non-migrant New Yorkers are clamoring for sanctuary in their own sanctuary city. We must put everyone first.  But some should be more first than others.

We don't need swagger or gravitas from our leaders. We need a People's camera to catch the government as it speeds, swerves and skids out of control.