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Woman, 80, Fined For Throwing Out Newspaper

December 8, 2010 6:12 PM
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Delia Gluckin (credit: CBS 2)

Delia Gluckin (credit: CBS 2)

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Reporting Marla Diamond

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NEW YORK (CBS 2 / WCBS 880) – An 80-year-old Manhattan woman living on a fixed income, ticketed just for throwing her newspaper into the trash. Now she’s facing a fine and planning to fight City Hall, Kathryn Brown reports.

The City waste bin looks like a trash can and certainly smells like one, treat it like one and you’re likely to get hit with a hefty fine.


WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond reports

It happened to Delia Gluckin of Inwood on Sunday. “A hundred dollars,” she said. “Lo and behold this woman comes up to me in a uniform and I thought she was going to ask me for directions and she said ‘I saw you putting trash in the can’. I said ‘It’s not trash. It was newspapers’. She came back with me. She opened it. She looked at it and she said ‘I’m writing you a ticket’.”

The official reason was improper disposal.

“I said ‘I’m terribly sorry. I did it inadvertently. I’m a senior citizen. I never did anything. I’m going to take it out’. And she said ‘No you’re not’ and she wrote up the ticket,” Gluckin recounted.

The trash can is clearly marked “litter only” but what happened there raises a question that many people may not know the answer to: what exactly constitutes “litter?”

“Well, litter I would think is something you throw on the ground and trash is something you throw in the trash can,” said Allan Buyer of Inwood.

Dictionary.com defines trash as “anything worthless, useless, or discarded” and litter as “waste materials carelessly dropped, especially in public.”

It’s not clear whether those are the definitions used by the city.

“Maybe the mayor and people down in City Hall should look in the dictionary and find out what litter is,” said Sean O’Keefe of Inwood.

As for Gluckin, she’s learned her lesson. “You never know who’s looking on the street,” she said.

On this one, however, she’s planning to fight City Hall. Gluckin said she was told that if the fine is not paid in time it will increase to $300.

A spokesperson for the Department of Sanitation says agents have issued more than 2,300 tickets for similar violations this year.

View Comments
  • MK

    Watch our for the storm troopers. Fuhrer Bloomberg will not tolerate citizens rights!

  • Bernie Sanders

    tipical ny for you . next you will get a fine for walking crooked !

    • Bernie Sanders

      notice how i spelled tip … meaning money not that i dont know how to spell ..

  • otto

    This is, without question, one of the most DISGUSTING stories I have EVER read.

    These ticket THUGS are out of control. She admitted she made a mistake and was going to correct it. But THUG decides to write her up anyway ?!?

    Dear THUG, may someone treat you the same way you treated this poor woman. You are a disgrace to the human race :(

  • Jennifer

    Maybe we can lay off some unnecessary officers and use that money to hire MTA to recycle for us.

    [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/another-mta-anti-litter-ad-will-it-work/]

  • paul

    If a young guy in a hoodie committed the same offense, the agent wouldn’t dare. Shame on this city we live in.

    • Irina Feeney

      You said it!

  • Jane

    People in the city don’t recycle. We can still throw newspaper out in the subway because, supposedly, the MTA have people going thru the trash and take the newspaper out (or so they claim but I doubt it). Bloomberg needs to come up with a rule and be consistent with it, should we recycle or not and where should we put it?

  • Howard Steinhardt

    How disgustting !! The agent should have thanked the woman for disposing of the newspaper in a can instead of leaving it on the sidewalk. I hope Mike hears about this and pays the fine for her. and fires the agent for ridcculous performance !!!

  • JC 11714

    Someone please tell me how I can pay this fine for her ! I

    • Devenio

      I’ll throw in a couple of bucks with you. This is crazy. What the hell has NYC turned into?

      • wiliam

        same here

    • Ron Maxwell

      I’ll contribute money to help pay her fine.

      This is absolutely and completely ridiculous!

  • Rob

    It is quite funny when I watch the MTA workers who update all the bulletin boards in the subways every week and simply toss all those papers they replace right into trash containers on the platforms. The amount of paper that is being tossed should all be recycled. It must be tons of waste not getting recycled correctly.

    • nyphonejacks

      you do know that it gets recycled after collection dont you? why not pay attention and read the labels on the container…

  • Bronx resident

    New York needs money – how about some of these. Fine anyone who dirties our sidewalks – cigarette butts, water bottles, candy wrappers etc. Fine dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs. Fine drivers blasting their music from their cars. Fine storefront owners who do not sweep their sidewalks. There are many ways do get money – no need to fine someone who is doing the proper thing of disgarding in a trash can.

    • Another Bx Resident

      Heavin forbid! You might just end up like that lady who’s claiming she was abused by the cops for dog poo on the street that wasn’t from her dog. Daily News, today’s edition

  • rugbyball

    Better not get caught passing gas or the NYC DEP will fine you for polluting the air!

  • The Good Samaritan

    She disobeyed and the law and must pay the fine. The agent could have arrested her for disorderly conduct.

    The sanitation officer is doing a good job.

    The Good Samaritan has spoken.

    • Anthony

      Since when can sanitation officers arrest you? And when did we as citizens give them that right?

    • Sarah

      What law did she disobey? When you read your AM on the subway, do you wait to throw it away at home in your home’s trashcan? I doubt it!

      • Do recycle

        Yes, there are some people who wait until they get home to dispose of their newspapers. I am one of them. My AMNY goes directly into the recycle bin. The others need to be stop being selfish and realize that the earth needs to be protected and if each one of us do our part, then our children, grand or great grand children will be able to happily enjoy their lives on this planet.

    • Devenio

      I just realized who The Good Samaritan is: Its Mike Bllomberg. It has to be! Who else could be so anal?

    • Gloria Guerriera

      Hey, good Samaritan, I hope you are kidding saying the sanitation officer did a good job. That officer showed she had no common sense, and if you agreed with her neither do you. If any law should be enforced it should be the one about being in this country illegally.

  • Anthony

    Why did she even stop to listen to this “sanitation agent” What authority do they have to stop a citizen walking down the street. Personally if they had tried to stop me to write a ticket I would continue to walk away and ignore them.

    • Rugbyball

      @Anthony
      Sanitation Agents aka San Cops are deputized Peace Officers. They have all the authority and power as a Police Officer. This also goes for FDNY personnel. If she ignored the agent she could have been arrested by the San Cop, much like if you walked away from a NYPD police officer if they where writing you up for a summons.
      For reference to what I said:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Department_of_Sanitation_Police

      • Jay Gould

        This depends. Some are “enforcement officers” much like the Traffic Enforcement Officers who now wear police-like uniforms (used to be dressed in brown) that don’t carry guns and don’t have power of arrest. It’s the luck of the draw. If she was confronted with an “agent” rather than a “police officer” I’m betting on her but she looks like someone who would not do that. It’s worth a try…walk away (or refuse to show ID) and you’ll find out very quickly. If they put a hand on a holstered gun, comply quickly. If there’s a Sanitation Police Officer within earshot (they often work together) comply too, or prepare for trouble. If the agent is working alone I do believe she’s powerless to demand that you stop for her and comply, as a practical matter. Not sure I want to test it…

  • Fred

    Expect more of this kind of thing as the city continues to spiral downward fiscally.

  • jtorres

    So what exactly is she supposed to do with the newspaper? leave it on the subway? Toss it on the street. That guy needs a reality check. It doesn’t matter how old the person is or whether she was a woman or where it happened. At least she made the effort to put the trash where it belongs. Why doesn’t he stop harrassing innocent people and go after real litterbugs who make our streets flithy

    • saywhat

      …because he’s afraid to go after butt droppers. How much could be collected if the City went after smoker litterbugs?

  • Josh

    Who is the Santiation Dept to determine that a newspaper is a household item and not something you buy outside, read on the train, take to work and not bring home? This is beyond stupid and shameful. Thanks Mayor Bloomberg!!!

  • Jimmy

    Wow. What about all these free newspapers littering the street. BTW, these sanitation agent only pick on the weak and defenseless.

  • Bettwe Majore

    Truly, today if it were not for the public trash can who would
    read the newspaper at all?
    You gonna pay for it?

  • Diane

    So sad. Now not only are the working people geting the short end of the stick. But it seems so are old people. Way to go GOP

    • Errol

      What does this have toi do with the GOP?

      • Sarah

        My thoughts exactly. How is this a GOP problem?

    • GoForth

      How is this the GOP’s fault? What a specious, baseless and ignorant comment. You, ma’am, should be issued a ticket for being a moron.

  • C.B. Parkinson

    Why wasn’t she put in cuffs and booked and fingerprinted?
    Watch out folks,bubble gum is next on this Officer’s list.

  • jme

    city is starving for $$$$ – shameful

  • Igor

    Like to see a photo of the person who wrote the ticket.

  • Sarah

    The picture says it all….an umbrella is more of a “household trash” item than a newspaper! That worker needs a reality check and perhaps a pink slip for his abuse of “power”!

  • Kate

    So the Santitation Dept. prefers newspapers, paper cups, food wrappers, bottles, and cigarette butts left on the sidewalk? A newspaper is NOT “household trash.” It is frequently purchased on the street, read on the subway or bus, and then discarded as casual litter. I prefer to see it in a proper litter-bin. By the way, although I am not anti-smoking, I am furious with the filthy smokers who litter the sidewalks with cellophane wrappers, empty cigarette packs, and endless butts.

  • jen

    shame shame new york is getting from bad to worst trying to to rob the poor

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