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NYPD Shuts Down Mom & Pop MetroCard Service
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 31, 2011
Modified Oct 31, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 31, 2011
Modified Oct 31, 2011
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Can't the NYPD give small businesses a break? A man who devised a brilliant revenue strategy to reallocate the funds of subway riders was arrested last week in the Cortland Street R station. DNAinfo reports that 52-year-old Darrelle Lawrence shoved cardboard into the MetroCard fare machine and told straphangers that he could swipe them into the stop for just $2 cash. That's a .25 discount (.50 if you're a single ride!), enough to keep Foghat on the speakers for an extra four minutes. But instead of rounding up angel investors, the NYPD charged him with petit larceny, theft of services and criminal trespass.
Lawrence apparently has a long history of entrepreneurship: he's been arrested 44 times on charges of robbery and grand larceny among others. "[Criminals] like this area because there's a lot of tourism," Captain Paul Rasa of the NYPD Transit District 2 says. "[Tourists] don't know—they think this guy is helping them. It's a major inconvenience, and it costs the MTA thousands of dollars." Maybe the MTA should have thought of that BEFORE they hiked up the fare.
Tagged
crime
entrepreneurs
lower manhattan
metrocards
MTA
nypd
small businesses
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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