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Finding a parking space in New York City has never been simple, but failing to follow alternate-side parking rules could now turn both awkward and messy. As the New York Post, NBC New York and other local outlets highlighted more widely on Wednesday morning, the city has started putting giant fluorescent green stickers on the windows of vehicles that do not comply with instructions to move before the street sweeper makes its routine pass along the kerb.

This is not the first time New York City has used these so-called “stickers of shame”. However, the earlier version was banned in 2012 because the stickers were unattractive and hard to remove from vehicles. They have now made a comeback after a 41-10 vote by the New York City Council this summer approved their return, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani allowed the bill to become law without signing it.

The stickers are meant to push New Yorkers once again to move their vehicles on street-sweeping days; if cars remain parked on the side of the street scheduled for cleaning, the sweepers cannot do their work properly. But while few people would argue against cleaner streets, there is still plenty of debate around the stickers themselves. Former city councilman David Greenfield took to social media to explain why he banned these stickers 14 years ago: “Many drivers who got stickered were innocent and the glue damaged their cars. A ticket is a penalty. Gluing rubbish to someone’s windscreen is vandalism,” said Greenfield.

Things have changed at City Hall, though. Manhattan councilwoman Gale Brewer, who sponsored the bill to bring the stickers back, says the new stickers are easier to remove than the old ones. Instructions printed on the sticker tell people to use “warm water and a scraper” to remove them from the window. Ironically, once peeled off, many of these stickers could well end up as litter on the street.

Whether the giant green stickers will actually change behaviour remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: if you leave your car parked in the way of New York City’s street sweepers, the next reminder to move it may be impossible for you — and everyone else — to miss.