This is nuts.
A white-paneled truck sat motionless and idling in Midtown on a recent morning, its driver wrapped up in his phone and oblivious to what was happening outside.
There in the street, Paul Slapikas was stalking his prey. Wire-thin and 81 years old, Mr. Slapikas stood in front of the truck like a lost tourist, a camera dangling around his neck and a map sticking out of his jacket pocket. He appeared to be deep in conversation on an old flip-phone — big hand gestures, a peek at a watch, a crane of the neck like he’s looking for a friend.
After exactly three minutes and 10 seconds, Mr. Slapikas — a lifelong New Yorker who lives a few miles away in Queens — snapped the phone shut, tapped the screen of his watch and walked away. If everything goes as it should, he just earned $87.50, and maybe more, for those few minutes of time, and the company that owns the truck will receive a fine of at least $350 that it never saw coming. But for now, Mr. Slapikas is off down the block, a bounty hunter jauntily seeking his next target.
“Easy pickings,” said the former marine and retired computer specialist from Woodside....
....If this all sounds like a lot of trouble for a quarter cut of a $350 fine, consider this: Mr. Slapikas said he pulled in $64,000 in rewards in 2021 for simply paying attention on his daily walks for exercise: “I would expect to get three a day without even looking.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/nyregion/clean-air-idle-car.html
A white-paneled truck sat motionless and idling in Midtown on a recent morning, its driver wrapped up in his phone and oblivious to what was happening outside.
There in the street, Paul Slapikas was stalking his prey. Wire-thin and 81 years old, Mr. Slapikas stood in front of the truck like a lost tourist, a camera dangling around his neck and a map sticking out of his jacket pocket. He appeared to be deep in conversation on an old flip-phone — big hand gestures, a peek at a watch, a crane of the neck like he’s looking for a friend.
After exactly three minutes and 10 seconds, Mr. Slapikas — a lifelong New Yorker who lives a few miles away in Queens — snapped the phone shut, tapped the screen of his watch and walked away. If everything goes as it should, he just earned $87.50, and maybe more, for those few minutes of time, and the company that owns the truck will receive a fine of at least $350 that it never saw coming. But for now, Mr. Slapikas is off down the block, a bounty hunter jauntily seeking his next target.
“Easy pickings,” said the former marine and retired computer specialist from Woodside....
....If this all sounds like a lot of trouble for a quarter cut of a $350 fine, consider this: Mr. Slapikas said he pulled in $64,000 in rewards in 2021 for simply paying attention on his daily walks for exercise: “I would expect to get three a day without even looking.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/nyregion/clean-air-idle-car.html
