City to legalize jaywalking

September 27, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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NEW YORK CITY — THE CITY COUNCIL on Thursday voted in favor of a bill that would effectively legalize jaywalking in NYC by revoking the NYPD’s authority to write tickets for the act, reports Gothamist.

Led by Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse, the bill’s sponsors say that jaywalking enforcement, an offense that carries a $250 fine, disproportionately targets people of color, with 77% of tickets so far this year being given to Black or Hispanic New Yorkers.

Although some supporters had earlier expressed concerns that passages of the bill could result in drivers not facing penalties for striking pedestrians, advocates hailed the successful vote, saying that criminalizing jaywalking does not make the city safer. Mayor Eric Adams, whose office has signaled ambivalence towards the measure, will need to sign off on it before it becomes law.

“How many people in the room can tell me they never jaywalk[ed]? None of you,” Narcisse said at a press conference on Thursday.

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