He Made $150K Taking Videos of Idling Trucks

Fun fact: It's illegal for trucks or buses to idle for more than three minutes in New York City, and the limit drops to 60 seconds around schools. Amazing fact: Rafil Kroll-Zaidi estimates he made $150,000 last year by taking more than 2,000 videos of idling scofflaws and sending them to the city. And as Kroll-Zaidi explains in New York magazine, he is not alone. His story reveals the small, dedicated, and well-paid group of self-styled commandos who similarly roam the city with their phones to capitalize on New York's Citizens Air Complaint Program. "We are birders of internal-combustion engines," writes Kroll-Zaidi. "We are sneakerheads of snitching. We are litigious; we are scolds. We are completists, lovers of order, keepers of spreadsheets, holders of grudges. We have turned a passion for complaining into a Weird Side Hustle."

In one sense, the process is fairly straightforward: Record and submit a video, wait for the city's Department of Environmental Protection to levy a fine, then collect a cut if and when the fine gets paid. But it doesn't quite work that way in the real world: Factor in hostility from drivers, friction from police and city officials who are growing tired of the rising number of complaints to process and the confrontations they engender, and regular old red tape. The story digs into all those things and more, while noting that this particular side hustle may soon be gutted. The administration of Mayor Eric Adams has proposed legislation, which will be debated later this month, "that would halve citizen rewards and broadly undermine the program." Read the full story. (Or check out other longform recaps.)