Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor
Future Law

MARCH 20, 2004 --

LPR did not catch the first episode of "Century City," the CBS series about a law firm in 2030. Bernard Weintraub, in the TV magazine of the New York Times, March 14-20, quoted Ed (no relation to LPR) Zuckerman that because of the future setting, the program could not go into the streets. (Mr. Zuckerman is one of the program's executive producers).

LPR's experience is that TV shows do not receive ideas from plain citizens. Herewith, then, LPR's vision of New York streets in 2030. There will be no cars, certainly not parked curbside on Manhattan streets. The curb space will be given entirely over to buses -- and all the Law & Order programs. And here is a law case for 2030.

The executor of a deceased motorist is fighting a city lien based on a seatbelt violation. The motorist was driving over to a police officer to ask directions, when his car was struck by chunks of concrete from a Manhattan high-rise. The police officer noticed, after the smoke cleared, that the hands of the deceased were on an open seatbelt. Accordingly, he served the deceased with a seatbelt violation, which in 2030 dollars, called for a fine of $400 and a surcharge of $1,000. The executor is challenging this demand.

The streets of Manhattan in 2030 would show pedestrians wearing required

 

Law of the present- NBC’s "Law and Order" location dressing rooms along a NYC street.
hardhats. And (following up with an observation in LPR, last week), some pedestrians would be shown getting on street corner scales at the direction of officers of the Obesity Violations Agency, with summonses issued to people found to be excessive in weight. One person would be heard to lament, "My weight problem is just like gas prices -- they both go up a lot faster than they come down."

Also, in this 2030 street scene, one police officer would be shown handing out a summons to a pedestrian for not wearing a seat belt while walking. Failure of full preparedness in event of entering one's car, would be the violation.

The Manhattan of 2030 would, however, have a rather smaller population than at present. But there would be larger numbers of same-sex couples strolling about.