Public Shaming as Public Policy

**Sherry** (0:11)
Hey, it's Molly.

**Brian Lehrer** (0:13)
For our last 15 minutes today, we're going to stay in New York City and ask an age-old question that City Hall seems to have reconsidered now. Is public shaming a good way to get people to follow the law? And we'll add, what kinds of behaviors should government publicly shame people over? If you want to go there, 212-433-WNYC.
Is public shaming a good way to get people to follow the law? And what kinds of behaviors should government publicly shame people over? If any, 212-433-9692, call or text. Here's why we're asking. Last week, the Sanitation Department brought back to practice of putting those bright green stickers on cars that don't move for street cleaning on alternate side parking days. Have you seen them? Have you been hit with one yourself? So the question is, do you support that kind of public shaming on someone's car? Not to mention the difficulty of getting the stickers off. And more broadly, is public shaming a good way to get people to follow the law? In any way, what kinds of behaviors should government publicly shame people over? I'm going to give you a few nominations that we came up with. But what do you think? 212-433-WNYC. If you want to say no to this whole thing, or maybe you want to say yes and yes to the embarrassing bright green parking stickers and propose some other things that are public shaming worthy as well.
212-433-WNYC, call or text. The stickers for alternate side violations had previously been banned by city council. In 2012, after complaints that the glue is too strong and actually damaged windows, but city council voted to bring them back this summer. The $65 fine never went away. But in addition to your scraping session and whatever shame you experience in front of your neighbors who might actually care about the cleaning street, we now have this debate. So pro or con? And has it happened to you? And what do you think? And is public shaming a good way to get people to follow any kind of law? For those of you getting your creative juices flowing from this question, are there areas of public life that you would like to see public shaming in? Some questions that people came up with on our team along these lines. Maybe your neighbor always blocks the hallway with their bike, or there's someone on your commute every morning, loudly listening to music with no headphones on. Would you give them their own big green shame stickers if you could? And I will say that when our team discussed this topic in a meeting yesterday, the one that came up most prominently was dog owners who don't pick up after their pup. So do you have a neighbor who you wish you could shame into picking up their dogs? Number 212-433-WNYC.
Do you support it or have you experienced it with alternate side parking violations, the big bright green stickers? And what else should government publicly shame people over? If anything, 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. Call or text, we'll see what you have right after this.
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Okay, shaming for alternate side parking violations with the big green stickers or anything else. Our lines are full. Julie in Brooklyn is saying no to this whole thing, I think. Julie, you're on WNYC. Hi.
Hi.

**Julie** (4:07)
Good afternoon. Good morning. Yeah, I have a driveway in Brooklyn, and sometimes my car gets parked in by somebody, and I found that it is much better to be nice, because we don't want to instill more anger. We're already very angry in New York.
And do we really want to shame people and just get them more incensed? I think the gentler conversation with someone who constantly lets their dog poop on your street, when they know that they're noticed but it's understood, it creates a less volatile situation.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:51)
A good conflict resolution approach from Julie in Brooklyn. For many things, to be sure, who agrees or disagrees, Jeff in Jackson Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jeff. Yeah.

**Jeff** (5:04)
Hey, thanks for taking my call.
I was actually, I was selling stickers that said, I park like a curse word. And this was the exact issue. It was held about five years ago. And something that we're not catching on is the democratization of punishment. Like it's not about the fine. Some people find it doesn't matter, but also some people with placards might be impervious to a fine, they get it waved away. So my thing was that, yes?

**Brian Lehrer** (5:38)
No, well, I was just going to ask what kinds of parking got you incensed enough to put these stickers on? Was it alternate side? Was it some other kind of parking? Some people are really ticked at double parking.