Seriously? Sidewalk Chalk is a Crime Now
At least in Brooklyn it is. Fellow blogger Amanda Kingloff tells us about the notice she received that her daughter’s sidewalk chalk needed to be removed from the front stoop immediately or she would be fined $300!!!
Seriously? Hello city of Brooklyn what is your drama?! We’ve got seasonably warm weather and kids are playing outside having a good time, enjoying things that you can do on a warm day. One of those things has always been creating beautiful sidewalk masterpieces. To actually threaten to fine someone for sidewalk chalking is like saying “hey tell your kid not to color!” Surely there are some theives to put in jail, addicts to send to drug rehabilitation programs, and other horrible things to clean off the streets!
The graffiti was reported by an anonymous caller to the city’s 311 helpline. Everyone has at least once cranky neighbor at some point. Up until very recently we had a neighbor we all affectionately called “cranky old dude” because he was cranky and he hated kids. Yet, he moved into a “family” community of two and three bedroom townhouses. Oh, the up until recently thing ~ No, the neighborhood kids didn’t tie him up and toss him under the train, he retired and moved away. Even our dear cranky old dude wouldn’t stoop so low as to report one of the neighborhood kids for drawing with chalk on the sidewalk and call it graffiti! That’s just beyond ridiculous. I am sitting here at my desk in shock that a child’s drawing could be graffiti in any city.
Should I go hide the big bucket of chalk in the front hall closet? It may become a banned substance soon enough!
Technorati Tags: sidewalk chalk, kids, brooklyn, ridiculous, fine, city fine, graffiti
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October 26th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Hahaha! Ok, that’s terrible, really. I laugh - because, my ‘cranky old dude’ husband would COMPLETELY agree with the fine! He would get very fussy with us for enjoying our sidewalk chalk.
It’s terrible, really! I just think it’s so funny how my husband would love that.
October 26th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
i cannot believe this. I’m pretty sure there are more dire situations that the city of brooklyn could address than a child’s sidewalk masterpiece.
October 26th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Hi there,
You have been tagged!
http://laravelez.com/2007/10/27/thursdays-links-a-day-late/
October 27th, 2007 at 11:46 am
What in the world are they smoking down there? I just can’t get my head around that one.
Let’s hope that Karma is going to be a !@#$%^& here. Keeps us in the loop about this one, I’d love to hear about it.
October 27th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I grew up in Brooklyn, back in the 60’s/early 70’s. We lived on Nostrand Avenue, and would always go over to the much less busy East 31st Street to play. We used to write on the street with chalk ALL THE TIME! No one cared…it would get washed away in the rain, anyway/
This whole thing now is beyond ridiculous.