The city council voted unanimously yesterday to sharply increase fines for business owners who place ATMs on the sidewalk outside of their stores, bars, and restaurants. Such ATMs have actually always been illegal, but obviously that hasn’t mattered. So why is the city council finally pushing to get rid of them? “They’re seedy, they’re dirtying streets, they’re blocking all types of egress on streets,” Speaker Christine Quinn said, also referring to them as “automatic trouble machines.” Really? We thought they were convenient ways to procure money. [NYP, Gotham Gazette]
