Street Parking in NYC is the kind of challenge other cities know nothing about. First there is the physical act of parking which is more bumper-cars than anything else as love-taps are not just accepted but completely expected when people parallel park on the streets. Add to it that there are anywhere between 1 and 4 fire-hydrants per block whose 10 foot aura swallows up some of the most valuable pieces of real-estate this side of the Upper East Side. Then the city has eliminated tons of street parking spots by adding those cursed muni-meters and allowed one giant highrise after another from coming into neighborhoods instantly boosting the total population –and in turn the amount of cars- exponentially. But still the bigger issue for the drivers in NYC are the street-sweeping rules which can be so badly designed that even a Zen-Master would get eaten up by the frustration not to mention the Gregorian calendar necessary to figure out which dates opposite side of the street parking is suspended.
In my neighborhood they sweep one side of the street every Thursday and the other side every Fridays. The issue here is obvious to anybody who has ever played musical chairs. What it means is that people have all week to find a parking spot for Thursday Morning BUT the entire neighborhood is searching for a parking spot every Thursday Night in anticipation for the Friday Morning Street-Sweep. I have literally spent hours of my life circling the block, my blood pressure rising with each turn around the block.
If I could get Mayor Bloomberg ear, I'd give him the TOR law-changes for parking in NYC
- Don't put oposite street-sweeping on consecutive days on any given street, spread them out so that the residents have a few days to find a parking spot.
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