Musical Chairs!!!

Opposite Side of the Street parking in New York is like a giant game of musical chairs expect in this case there is only one chair and about 30 people looking to plant their oversized ass on it. I have spent so many hours looking for a parking spot due to all the street-sweeping regulations that I’m ready to rip my hair out as I drive around the same block for the 10th time. I know I drive a hybrid so in theory I’m not burning that many gallons of Saudi bought oil but the aggravation of not finding a spot isn’t offset by that fact.

The problem with these parking situations in these yuppie neighborhoods is that there are easily 100 more cars than spots so you can’t ever just drive up and find a spot. My neighborhood continues to build huge 100 unit condominiums which comes with 100 new yuppie couples with 100 new puppies or strollers but most importantly usually comes with maybe 20 new cars. This is where the city of NYC has it all wrong. We pride ourselves with the fact that so many people use public transportation so I’m sure we use less petroleum per capita than the rest of the country in our commutes to work but then there aren’t nearly enough spots so we burn our petroleum not on an 8AM commute but instead an 8PM game of Duck-Duck-Goose.

I refuse to go to a parking lot because like George Costanza said ‘You don't understand. A garage... I can't even pull in there. It's like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free?’ What I have considered the Seinfeld-esque idea of paying somebody to find a move my car during street-sweeping days but I’m not sure about giving my keys to some nut-job.

So although I feel dirty about using a parking lot, I have come to the point where I would pay somebody for their spot on the street. I’ve spent a good two hours of my life in the last few weeks circling around my block and have really considered pulling up to somebody who just pulled into a spot and offering them $10 for it.

one last thought, which genius the the NYC parking spot department decided that all the streets cleaned on Monday's and Tuesday's are the same sides as the fire hydrants which means that on the days there are two or three less total spots per block