This is a serious question. I was not trying to be snarky, just trying to determine just how different things are if you are, say, a young black guy breaking a minor rule like that. I know the consequences are definitely different in Chicago if you are black, but I was wondering if things are better in other places in the US.
(Given the contents of the article, I realize NYC is similar to Chicago, I guess I was assuming you live in another area of the country?)
That seems excessively broad. Aren't prostitution and drug use already illegal?
I have a photo of a sign in New Orleans forbidding this, and forbidding sleeping.
I was amazed at the number of signs showing what was forbidden in public spaces in the USA when I visited. It didn't square with my expectations of "the Land of the Free".
On the one hand, if the laws do indeed vary, then the signs make some sense. But there were signs forbidding things like "lewd conduct and public masturbation", or "public defecation", which I assume are generally forbidden.
It felt like someone thought I needed instructions on how to use a park.
some people do
Exactly. If you are white, then this seems to support the parent comment's statement.
If they weren't such, they probably wouldn't have gotten off with warnings and both them and their parents would have had quite a tiff that would have actually gotten something productive done as a result.