Stringer Declares War on Sidewalk ATMs
Boro prez charges machines are unsafe, dirty, unregulated
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Watch out -- those things on the street can be dangerous.
Hundreds of unregulated, graffiti-scarred cash machines not only take space from pedestrians, encourage litter and charge higher fees, but they could be unsafe. And Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is declaring war on the sidewalk nuisances.
Sidewalk ATMs are more prevalent in some neighborhoods – the East Village, for one -- than in others. Stringer's office commissioned a study of 950 ATMs and found many of them lacked video surveillance, didn't meet regulations and were just plain dirty.
Among the findings:
- Sidewalk ATMs charge higher fees – nearly 8 percent higher, on average than indoor machines – for use of their services.
- While bank ATMs are required to have both visible surveillance cameras and mirrors to allow users to see someone approaching, the survey found those features lacking in more than 85 percent and 4 percent, respectively, of street machines.
- Street ATMs are eyesores: More than 40 percent of them were defiled by graffiti.
- More than 250 ATMs on Manhattan sidewalks were unregulated.
"It's time for the city to step up and call a halt on these attempts to cash in on our neighborhoods," Stringer said in a statement. "This is more than just a nuisance: The exploding number of sidewalk ATMs need to be covered by the same consumer protections that apply to bank ATMs."
Stores get paid for installing ATM machines on the sidewalks, but it appears shops in the East Village are making off with the most cash at consumers' expense. The study found more than 100 ATMs in the area – more than five on one Avenue A block alone – and only two had relationships with major banks, according to the Daily News.
Here's the thing: ATMS aren't even allowed to be installed on sidewalks, city Department of Transportation spokesman Seth Solomonow told the Daily News. ATMs don't qualify as goods, which retailers are permitted to offer within three feet of their establishments. Inspectors are allowed to ask vendors to move their ATMs inside, however. Storeowners who refuse could be slapped with a $250 fine for encroachment violation.
“Before these machines take over another area, it’s time for the city to step up and call a halt to these attempts to cash in on our neighborhoods," Stringer said. "We need to license these machines and force the owners to meet reasonable standards of safety and cleanliness.”
Other Manhattan “hot spots” surveyed included 181st Street in Washington Heights, with seven outdoor ATMs clustered near Fort Washington Avenue; and West 23rd Street in Chelsea, with four sidewalk machines clustered around the intersection with 8th Avenue.
