Big Honkin' Jerk
DESPITE CITY LEGISLATION mandating that car alarms must shut themselves off after just a couple of minutes, we still find ourselves being awakened in the middle of the night by piercing bleats and whistles and honks that can roll on for an hour, or two, or three.
That's why recent attempts on the part of the city council to ban car alarms in the city had our enthusiastic support, as well as the support of millions of other New Yorkers.
That's also why we found ourselves scratching our faces in frustration yet again when it was announced that the mayor had vetoed the bill.
Why? Because according to the mayor, banning car alarms might increase the number of car thefts.
Is he fucking kidding?!
We realize the man's not exactly in touch with day-to-day life for most of us, so maybe someone should write up a little handbook or something for him. And somewhere in that handbook, he should learn that car alarms don't mean anything anymore, and haven't for quite some time. They don't mean a car is being stolen-they just mean that a loud truck or motorcycle roared by, that a drunk stumbled into the car on his way home, or that someone in a nearby apartment building sneezed. They're an assault on that "quality of life" he keeps talking about, and nothing more.
The mayor also argued that those who could afford to would simply go elsewhere to get an alarm installed. And that, the billionaire claimed, would create a class distinction between "those with the resources to purchase a new vehicle equipped with an audible alarm and those who lack such resources."
Again: Is he fucking kidding?!?!
We realize the bill as written was far from perfect, and would have, in the end, accomplished little. But instead of vetoing it until the city had a better and more effective way of getting rid of car alarms, he vetoed it for reasons that are stupid and wrong.
The proposed bill may not have been much, but at least it was a start, if only a symbolic one. The veto was just one more instance of the mayor admitting that he not only doesn't understand us-he just doesn't give a rat's ass what our concerns are.