Slope Stroller Overabundance Making One Guy a Shut-In
Longtime New York Press columnist Jim Knipfel has a new rant about Park Slope stroller culture that sets the bar high for future diatribes on the subject. This is how it begins: This morning as I was leaving the bank, a woman recklessly pushing her armor-plated double stroller down the sidewalk veered sharply and unexpectedly…
Longtime New York Press columnist Jim Knipfel has a new rant about Park Slope stroller culture that sets the bar high for future diatribes on the subject. This is how it begins:
This morning as I was leaving the bank, a woman recklessly pushing her armor-plated double stroller down the sidewalk veered sharply and unexpectedly into an elderly man walking with a cane. He, in turn, fell into me. I was able to catch him and hold him upright and he seemed to be okay. Just a little flustered. The woman, of course, had said nothing, apparently considering an apology or even a simple excuse me unnecessary under the circumstances. She was a mother after all, and therefore privileged, so she simply continued careening on her way.
Knipfel says that the number of strollers in the Slope, as well as the neighborhood’s dog breed preferences (it’s really mostly the strollers, though) mean he can only leave his apartment for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, because he finds the situation out on the streets too harrowing and exhausting. The writer says that for the past year he’s been counting the number of strollers he sees in the Slope (“I’m averaging 1.45 strollers per block. Think about it—there has been at least one stroller, and usually more, for every block I’ve walked. It’s insanity.“) Knipfel takes issue with the air of entitlement that he sees a lot of the neighborhood’s parents displaying and notes that he sees a good number of kids being pushed around who look too old for strollers. Also, he says, it’s not a subject that can be broached in polite, public Slope discourse: “The child-free adults in the neighborhood mutter and complain about the problem, but only behind closed doors, and usually in whispers. They don’t dare say a negative word when they’re outside, for the simple reason that they’re terrified, most of them. Indulgent, affluent parents are too powerful a lobby (and what’s more, those strollers can really hurt when you get rammed).”
The Statistics of Contempt [Slackjaw]
Photo from dailyheights.com
mmmm, Crotch-fruit! They’re just coming into season now! I have such memories of my mom’s country crotch-fruit pie a-la-mode! Can’t wait!
I think you should be allowed to abort your child up until the age of 5. Okay, maybe 4.
OKay, this was supposed to post before the post of the good Dr. at 4:34.
Like I was saying, just when I thought I needed to get my head checked for reading all 199 posts on said subject, I came across something that made it well worth it…
kids= crotch fruit
Ha! That is the funniest!
Keep it up Brownstoner!
You rock.
Personally, I’d like to see the city plant a few crotch-fruit trees in Prospect Park. I love how when the weather gets nice, the air is redolent with the sweet, citusy scent of crotch-fruit.
Its really sad that a real estate blog gets more traffic when talking about this kind of bullshit, this blog has officially jumped the shark…Oh wait, I forgot, an ice cream store is getting outside seating in the heights!!! “I’m a stroller pushing dad” really? how do those crocs feel?..hey is someone gonna be selling those stroller tees at the flea this sunday? the waffles are totally worth the wait!..I’m upset cause my wittle dog cant go to the flea market. when readership goes down, bring up the stroller moms, always good for a laugh..Anyone want to talk about frikkin real estate anymore?
9:14…everyone says those exact people you just described don’t live in park slope…
i thought it was all families with kids??
you mean there are young, hipsters there also????
I’m a stroller pushing father, and all I’ll say is this: I am constantly being held up by slow walking, inane cell phone conversation holding, cig puffing, skinny jean wearing, semi-employed childless trustifarians on their way to Gorilla to waste another day of the gift of life.
Haters would love Park Slope if they could afford to own there. Clearly, journalists can’t afford it. 30k/year not enough for $2ml mortgage. Why is their self-aggrandizing career choice my problem?
I don’t know what any of you people are talking about. There are very few parents pushing strollers down the sidewalk in Park Slope during the day. The vast majority of those strollers are being pushed by nannies.