$50 fine for taking up 2 seats on train

New Yorkers beware: No minor infraction is too obscure to pass the detection of hungry police officers, reports the New York Daily News.

Citing anecdotal evidence from readers, the paper describes stepped up enforcement on things like feeding pigeons, keeping car-dealer frames around license plates and blocking your own driveway.

Bicyclists in Brooklyn have been cited for coasting without their feet on the pedals and riding bicycles with no bells.

One do-gooder got ticketed for improperly bundling newspapers to be recycled.

Another train passenger got hit with a $50 fine for taking up two seats.

With the city hurting for money, reports the Daily News, police are leaving no stones unturned and citizens are getting cited for things they didn’t even know were against the law.

The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association claims the city has a ticket quota for cops, and even launched a $100,000 ad campaign called “Don’t Blame the Cop,” to help officers the group says are caught in the middle.

“They call it productivity goals, we call it quotas, and it’s a very stressful situation,” Drew Bailey, a Brooklyn union official with the PBA told the Daily News.

Mayor Bloomberg defends the city’s crackdown. At a press conference last week he downplayed the sting to residents forking over their hard-earned money over little-known rules.

“Don’t throw litter on the streets, and you won’t have a problem. Don’t park illegally and you won’t have a problem,” he told reporters. “We can’t have laws that say ‘No Parking Here’ and then you complain when we give out tickets.”