Cuffed

More than five years now in New York and, while I'm sure I have seen it before, I cannot remember passing by anyone in handcuffed custody. Until yesterday, when I saw a man taken out of Central Park past the Imagine mosaic in Strawberry Fields. Must have been some kind of enforcement sweep because just beyond that scene, heading down the pathway on the north side of Strawberry Fields toward West Drive, one of the probably unlicensed vendors was being told by a cop with a tape measure that his table did not meet the requirement for twelve feet of sidewalk clearance to let visitors pass. The vendors numbers have increased several fold (it feels) over the last year or so ever since some enterprising seller found an obscure law dating from the 19th century that allows veterans to sell on the street without a license. The area around Strawberry Fields has become particularly congested with them. So much for the park's Quiet Zone designation.

Anyway, back to the cuffs -- and then today, riding back from the museum about Broadway and 113th, another guy in cuffs being led off to a squad car. Will it be the trifecta tomorrow?