STICK IT TO THEM!
Parking crusader
A vigilante is really sticking it to bad drivers in his Queens neighborhood — slapping their cars with “I park like an ASSHOLE” bumper stickers.
Jeff Orlick, 34, of Jackson Heights, is so fed up with drivers who illegally park in handicap spaces and block fire hydrants that he started selling his selfcreated stickers on Etsy to get others to join the cause.
“If people park like assholes, they should know about it,” Orlick said.
“You see these things every day that are wrong, and people could pass by or take a picture and put it on Instagram or you can do something and make a difference.”
The community activist said that he made the simple stickers last year for himself and since then has placed them on the bumpers of about 10 cars parked in his neighborhood.
“I want to be absolutely sure that these guys are assholes before I put a sticker on their car,” he said, adding that if drivers block a hydrant for more than an hour “they deserve to be reprimanded.”
The sticker vigilante also said that he is sick of city officials with credentials in their car abusing their power by parking anywhere they’d like.
“People take advantage of their positions,” he said. “I think some traffic officers are afraid to put tickets on some cars just because they have placards in their car.”
He has placed a sticker on at least one car with an NYPD vest in the windshield.
Orlick’s bumper stickers are selling under his online alias, Queens Qustodian, at five for $10.
Slapping bumper stickers on cars technically is not a crime, according to the NYPD, unless it damages the vehicle.
If the adhesive doesn’t come off, it could be considered criminal mischief, police said.
But Orlick, who drives a Honda Civic and works as a technician for a TV station, said he isn’t worried about possible repercussions.
“It has to be done,” he said. “I am not afraid of what will happen. It’s for a good cause.”
Not everyone supports Orlick’s mission.
“Putting stickers on people’s cars? That’s a violation!” fumed Stephen Yen, 32, of Astoria, adding that if he caught Orlick placing a sticker on his car, he would “probably kick him.”
Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergast