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September 23, 2008
Ethics-free Parking?
What can be done about people who park by chasing a streetcleaner and ducking in to a space open from those that have temporarily double parked for said streetcleaner? I know it's America..free to do as you please..but c'mon. Isn't this a totally ruthless and slimy tactic? Aren't there certain unwritten rules that we all go along with so that this cauldron doesn't bubble over?
Comments
What's ruthless about it? Those parking spaces belong to everyone. First come, first served: nobody gets permanent dibs on a parking space. That said, in NYC, if you park after the street cleaner passes by but before the end of alternate-side parking you are very likely to get a parking ticket.
Posted by: Frederick Law Homestead at September 23, 2008 9:32 AM
Im totally lost why you would consider this ruthless. Which space are you refering to?....the double parked car or the car parked closest to the sidewalk?
Posted by: nybk01 at September 23, 2008 9:33 AM
Ethics-free parking? You've got to be kidding. Sell your car.
Posted by: buttermilk channel at September 23, 2008 9:40 AM
If this person is refering to the car who is parked by the sidewalk...and they pull out...then the double parked car is no longer double parked...its sitting in the middle of the road. So in my mind the ethical thing to do would be to pull into the space. Otherwise that other car will get a ticket for parking in the middle of the road probably (knowing the NYC meter maids!).
Posted by: nybk01 at September 23, 2008 9:58 AM
I'm talking about the empty side of the street that is temporarily so, in order for the cleaner to come through, and then cars directly behind the cleaner jumping into the empty spaces as the double-parkers are starting their engines to move back.
I know there's no dibs. I know there's no ownership of a street space. But I also know that neighbors here are generally considerate of one another when it comes to city-living that requires some interdependence. I consider it ruthless because it involves a large group of people trusting one another to make something work and it does, until one person essentially cuts the line and gives the finger.
Buttermilk - what can I say. I'm a bike commuter. I don't use plastic bags. I buy local. But I also have two dogs and if I ever want to visit my parents or out-of-town friends, I need a car. It's an economical 4 cylinder.
Posted by: jebensch at September 23, 2008 10:01 AM
hahah...ya I now understand you. That is rather annoying, but hey...this is NYC!
Posted by: nybk01 at September 23, 2008 10:09 AM
i have never seen that happen
Posted by: werner at September 23, 2008 10:14 AM
Well it usually doesnt happen as soon as the sweeper goes by (unless it goes by as soon as the restriction ends). But say the restriction ends at 1 PM...and your double parked (maybe you have been sitting in your car for 10 minutes waiting to move it into that spot right next to you on the other side of the street)...but right when you begin to oull over to it some guy comes flying down the street and gets there before you. That is what she is saying. But its NY...so I would never expect someone to actually let me get the spot anyways!
Posted by: nybk01 at September 23, 2008 10:25 AM
If I may say so, you got rich people problems. "Oh, where to put my car???" Count your blessings, friend.
Posted by: I_haz_TWO_toilets at September 23, 2008 10:50 AM
jebensch,
As a bike commuter, do you stop at all red lights and wait for them to turn green? Do you use the bike lane and only travel in the direction of traffic? If you say yes, your a lier! The answer, from 99% of bikers, is NO. So, STFU about your unwritten rules and start following the written laws on your bike!
Posted by: pig three at September 23, 2008 10:59 AM
I just hope that when you leave your car double parked you also leave some form of contact info in case the person that you've blocked in has to move.
Posted by: SenatorStreet at September 23, 2008 11:20 AM
On my block it just seems to work out, except for the few off-duty cops who don't move their cars for nobody. The street cleaner usually finishes 15 minutes after alternate side begins and Traffic agents are pretty hardcore about writing up violations right up till the minute alternate side ends. (Then we don't see them again for a week).
Posted by: Steve at September 23, 2008 11:32 AM
Seems to me you are all gaming the system. And it is the double parker who is violating a (albeit rarely enforced) parking regulation. No outrage on this one.
Posted by: Putnamdenizen at September 23, 2008 11:39 AM
I had no idea that my text implied both my income AND my biking habits.
Ask for parking advice, get a class war.
The way it generally works on my block is that the cops ticket right before the street cleaner but not after.The double parkers all wait in their cars for the street cleaner to pass. A sanitation dept. worker precedes the cleaner and puts the neon stickers on the cars that haven't moved, then they head up the street with the cleaner right behind. Everyone double parked moves right back to where they were. The whole process usually about 20 minutes or so.
Posted by: jebensch at September 23, 2008 11:51 AM
Yeah... I have no sympathy for the "double parking" system. Just because it's a tradition doesn't make it OK. I've been blocked in (in Prospect Heights) by this great system... with the parking "attendant" nowhere to be found. If part of the "tradition" is making sure double parking doesn't cause restriction to you non-paying neighbors, then the attendant should be there and visible for the ENTIRE period.
Also - I've gotten a street cleaning parking ticket (forgot to move) while NONE of the 20 or so double-parked cars were even glanced at by the cops. Not to mention, it made it appear like *I* was making the street close to impassable... and not simple preventing street cleaning because I wasn't parked in a *different* totally illegal way.
Posted by: tybur6 at September 23, 2008 11:54 AM
If there were plenty of parking spaces, I might agree with your point.
But as there are fewer parking spaces than vehicles, I don't see how anyone can claim dibs on any of them. Street parking is first come, first serve. It is not a seniority system.
If you want your own space, pay for it. Find a place with a driveway, or use a garage.
Otherwise, realize that street spaces are public property, and that they are there to be used by whomever comes across them first.
Posted by: ceolaf at September 23, 2008 4:01 PM
I love the idea of the person who's breaking the law by double-parking complaining about other people's ethics.
Posted by: geekspice at September 23, 2008 4:13 PM
My husband has been known to follow a racing ambulance on the Belt just to get the open highway move. See ya suckas!
I don't condone that stunt but parking is a sport and OP has to learn that fact.
Posted by: pattunia at September 24, 2008 3:12 AM
Yeah, it's kind of ruthless, but, come on, are you surprised? you live in nyc, not mayberry.
Posted by: dtrain at September 24, 2008 1:25 PM
Glad to see you have scruples. I advise next time you be behind the street cleaner to get that spot ! Good luck.
Posted by: BklynPEZ at September 24, 2008 2:14 PM
Double-parking is illegal and potentially problematic, even when it's customary.
The OP's argument depends on extending this custom ad absurdum.
If you want to live on the wild side and possibly piss off a neighbor by double-parking for street cleaning, that's fine. I do understand this custom. I do it on my own street.
But to whine that someone has come along and parked their car while yours is still double parked? As if your (illegal, potentially inconveniencing) double-parked status somehow earns you a spot on the other side of the street?
Get the fuck out!
Posted by: vanburenproud at September 24, 2008 9:45 PM
Nope - no potential inconvenience. I'd concede that point if the double parking were such that the drivers left their cars and disappeared, but seeing as how the entire block is dp'd with drivers all sitting there ready to put their cars back, no one is getting boxed in.
So if you were looking for parking and found a car pulling out of its spot, so you stop past the space and put your blinker on and wait for it to open up, then when it does another car zips around the corner and pulls into the space...that's cool?
Well, I guess I'll keep playing the game.
Still, I'm never going to chase ambulances on the Belt!
Posted by: jebensch at September 25, 2008 7:46 AM
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