Spring has sprung...

 

....and so have the Squeegee Men.

 

Well, Squeegee Man anyway, this one plying his trade on 42nd Street near 9th Avenue this morning.

 

And technically he can't even be called a Squeegee Man because, well, he was cleaning car windshields without a squeegee, opting for a crumpled wad of newspaper to go along with his spray bottle filled with an unknown blue liquid.

 

The Squeegee Men were the scourge of NYC once upon a time, swarming onto motorists delayed in traffic and often demanding (extorting) money for unwanted services.  But Mayor Rudy G's "Quality of Life" campaign back in the 90's pretty much eliminated the species. 

 

With the economic downturn of recent years, however, the Squeegee Guys have been spotted more frequently and while cops will issue a summons (or more often probably just a warning), there doesn't seem to be a concerted effort to eradicate them.

 

The current mayor has more pressing priorities on his agenda to tackle at the moment...like banning oversized sodas and playing hide-and-seek with the tobacco products in bodegas.  Squeegee Men?  Soooo last century...

 

 

Clear Violation