If you leave your trash out too early, fail to shovel after a snowstorm, or get cited for a noise complaint, you can end up with a ticket from the city. These are the kinds of low-level civil fines most New Yorkers run into at some point, and they’re supposed to be simple: break the rule, pay the price.
But here’s the problem: the price is the same no matter who you are. A $200 fine might completely upend one family’s budget, forcing them to choose between paying the city and paying the rent. For someone else, that same $200 is so small it barely registers. The result is a system that often fails at the one thing it’s supposed to do: change behavior.
