People are so mean here

[Cindy15161]

Who are you to come here and even say something like that! How do you even know what a Long Island accent sounds like if you are not even from here. NYC is so diverse you get people from all over the place. I think you are rude and mean. Most people eho would go to the statue of liberty are out of state or form another country anyway. Why would someone from "LONG ISLAND" who can see the statue everyday if they wanted push and shove everyone out of the way? It just doesn't make sense. You sound like a troll. I don't even know why I wasted my time?!

[nancy thereader]

Try to calm down a little. Agree to disagree or something.

[BugBoy911]

Well when you work 365 days a year to save a very small percentage of your salary, well, you get the picture. Hey, that day you could have had a seatbelt ticket, now you have to call your lawyer and pay $300 for the lawyer fee then $180 for a ticket plus surcharge which went up again!!!! So now this month your screwed on your mortgage payment or rent. If you plead guilty then its a conviction and your insurance will go up from $2400 to $3000 like its nothing!!! Theres just no room for error anymore. If you make a finacial error or mistake on Long Island nowadays its a curse, not a punishment. You could have a flat, or have to fix your car this month, now your really screwed. Or you just met a beautiful girl, you take her out for a wonderful night that costs like $200.... Now your broke the rest of the week until your next paycheck and your credit card debt goes up drastically. You get the point??? Thats why I"M SO ANGRY living on long island. Just imagine growing up in a nice 3 bedroom 3 floor basic home with a backyard.... You almost graduate college and get a very well paying job making about $900 on the books per week. Your making more than what your parents made combind in 1985 and you live in a illegal apt with no land, a **** box for a place, and no chance to ever own anything. Thats about what teachers make in the begining after a year or 2 or 3. City teachers don't make anywhere near that, and when they finally do its after 5 years, and by then your college loans have collected so much interest cause you can't afford to pay them off, your screwed in all directions. When the cost of living goes up 4X within 20 years, and the increase in pay goes up 1X since 1985-1990 honestly, how the hell is anybody who is single, college educated, decent paying job, able to live here in decent living condidtions for the amount of money they pay. $800 a month and you get a studio or basement..... $800 a month in certain areas in florida like Spring Hill or by tem phe arizona you can affor a 3 bedroom house for only $300 more or so. it was wonderful being raised in Long Island, but SUCH A TEASE..... NASsAU COUNTY GOV"T DOES"NT WANT GOOD EDUCATED COLLEGE GRADUATES LIVING HERE.... THEY WANT HOSE A AND HOSE B TO RUIN THE STREETS AND ASTHETIC APPERENCE OF THE HIGHEST PRICED AREA TO LIVE IN THE WORLD!!!! Moderator cut: comment

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by BugBoy911

Well when you work 365 days a year to save a very small percentage of your salary, well, you get the picture. Hey, that day you could have had a seatbelt ticket, now you have to call your lawyer and pay $300 for the lawyer fee then $180 for a ticket plus surcharge which went up again!!!! So now this month your screwed on your mortgage payment or rent. If you plead guilty then its a conviction and your insurance will go up from $2400 to $3000 like its nothing!!!

BugBoy, you make several insane rants about what a raw deal in life you've gotten or whatever. I think maybe the section I've quoted is a good example of why you don't see any future for yourself on LI.

1) Wear a freaking seatbelt. Check plenty of my older posts, I'm not crazy about the police on LI or the supplementary revenue generation system most ticket writers are for the County, but if you don't want to get a seat belt ticket just buckle up. Less than 5 seconds could have saved you points on your license and $180 (at least). Even if you aren't wearing a seatbelt, just click it on before the cop walks up to the car. These guys aren't geniuses. Another thing, and I'm not assuming this about you at all - this is just for anyone else in our age bracket that might be reading this - don't drive around with the seat tilted back, wearing a flat brimmed cap and turn down the ghetto blaster when you see the orange and blue nearby. That's just asking to get pulled over for no reason, especially if you drive some stupid Honda Civic painted orange with ridiculous decals all over it.

2) Don't get a lawyer. Notice the cost of the lawyer cost almost double what the ticket cost? Here's exactly what the lawyer will do, which is the same exact thing you can do, except they'll make it seem like it's a great deal and they "know the judge" and really got your fine/points knocked down. First, mail the ticket in pleading "NOT GUILTY" and requesting a supporting deposition. Mail it certified with a return receipt requested. If you don't receive your SD within the allotted time frame, you show up to court and the ticket and the fine and points effectively no longer exist. If it does, you show up to court on the day they tell you to - I always go as late as possible, going early just means you're gonna sit there all day unless you go before court opens. Then you get up and talk to the traffic attorney, right off the bat they're gonna offer you a huge reduction on the points, or even drop it to a lesser offense with no points. If you can talk a little bit and convince them you don't have any money, they will probably give you a little sympathy. Then you go before a judge, he/she might give you even more sympathy but it's not as likely. However, you can bargain with the judge over how long it's gonna take you to pay the fine. Usually up to a period of three months or so. If you think the TA is a jerk and you don't like the deal, make up some story that you didn't know you were even supposed to be here for that ticket, you thought it was a different one, blah blah blah, etc. and request that the court date be adjourned. They will ALWAYS do this and will do it multiple times, eventually you're gonna run into some good luck. Just bargain with them, I've gotten ridiculous fines reduced to nothing.

3) Cancel your insurance. Find an older relative who loves you or is too senile to understand what you're saying and put the car in their name. If your parents hate you find an aunt, grandmother, etc....someone in your family must be willing to help out. If you've got a girlfriend/wife with a stellar driving record that is also a good possibility. Now, "your" insurance will never go up because you won't even be on the policy. I toss my mom $400 every six months for insurance and my license has been revoked two or three times. If I had my own, I'd be in the assigned risk category and probably paying $10k a year. Everyone I know does this, wait until you're successful enough to not care about how much your car insurance is to put it in your name.

If you plan to live on LI and don't have a college education or rich family members to hook you up with some cushy job, you need to cut corners and be willing to come up with a scheme every now and then. There's stuff you can do in every aspect of life to make getting by a little easier.