Lawlessness in Stuyvesant Town, or How Stuy Town Residents are Saying FU to the Rules and How Security is Not Doing Its Job

If you make rules, then you should follow through in enforcing them, otherwise the atmosphere you cultivate is one of lawlessness, however petty your rules. There have been a couple of recent efforts by the management of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to underline the need for dog owners to not let their dogs on the grass or in the gardens and to let bicyclists know that bike riding is prohibited in this complex.

Here are the new signs that you now see at various points around Stuy Town/PCV:





And green "anti-bike" barricades have now sprung up with maniacal persistence at four points in the Oval, along with notices that bike riding is prohibited.

The result of this new impetus? A flagrant disregard of the signs, with ST dog owners continually letting their dogs on the grass/gardens/wherever and bicyclists maneuvering easily through the green obstacle course placed before them. It even appears that there's more of both activities, almost a willful "FU" to the signs and barricades. (These barricades are also a visual blight in the area and are a pain in the ass for joggers, those who are wheelchair bound and parents with strollers. For bicyclists, they seem like challenging fun.)

Part of the problem is this:



After a brief period where the presence of security appeared to have increased, we are back to the empty booth and lack of visible manpower around the complex. Worse (and I witnessed this myself) when security is around, they do little, if anything, to stop those who ride bikes right in front of them or who let their pooches roam around in the grass or gardens. At most, they will chase kids who are misbehaving in the fountain.

If the rules are stupid or impractical, get rid of the rules; if they are necessary for whatever standard of living we have left here, enforce them. But the current situation is a farce.