Finding a parking spot in New York City has never been easy, but ignoring alternate-side parking rules could become embarrassing and messy. As the New York Post, NBC New York and other local outlets brought to broader attention Wednesday morning, the city has begun placing giant fluorescent green stickers on the windows of vehicles that don’t adhere to guidelines to move ahead of the street sweeper’s regular missions along the curb.
This isn’t the first time that “stickers of shame” have been used in New York City. However, the earlier version wound up being banned in 2012 because the stickers were unsightly and difficult to remove from cars. Now, they’ve returned, after a 41-10 vote by the New York City Council this summer approved their resurrection and Mayor Zohran Mamdani allowed the bill to go into law without his signature.
The stickers are an effort to re-encourage New Yorkers to move their vehicles on street sweeping days; if cars are parked along the side of the street that’s scheduled to be cleaned, the sweepers can’t do their job effectively. But while few would argue against having clean streets, there’s plenty to argue about over the stickers. Former city councilman David Greenfield to took X to explain why he banned these stickers 14 years ago: “Many of drivers getting stickered were innocent and the glue wrecked their cars. A ticket is a penalty. Gluing trash to someone’s windshield is vandalism,” said Greenfield.
Times have changed in City Hall, however. Manhattan councilwoman Gale Brewer, who sponsored the bill to reintroduce the stickers, claims that the new stickers are easier to remove than the old ones. Instructions on the sticker say to use “warm water and a scraper” to take them off the window. (Ironically, once removed, many of these stickers seem likely to end up as trash on the street.)
Whether the giant green stickers change behavior remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: if you leave your car parked in the path of New York City’s street sweepers, your next reminder to move it may be impossible for you (and everyone else) to ignore.
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