livelymorgue:June 13, 1980: A squeegee man on the Upper East Side. “In their unsolicited acts
livelymorgue:June 13, 1980: A squeegee man on the Upper East Side. “In their unsolicited acts — indeed, through their mere presence — they are to many motorists, who feel trapped in cars, annoying and intimidating,” The Times reported in 1986. That article quoted two young men who were trying to earn an honest dollar while in between jobs: “I say, ‘I just lost a job and don’t rob. I’m trying to make it, not take it,’ ” said one, Kevin Brown. But the police saw it otherwise, The Times reported. “Their money-making efforts are, in fact, a form of soliciting that the police say is against the law, a so-called quality-of-life infraction,” but, the police conceded, not one that generated too many arrests, because officers had other problems to address: “When you’ve got a ‘crack’ epidemic raging in New York, somebody washing a windshield becomes a lesser priority,” a police official said. Photo: Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times -- source link