A NYC councilman has a new proposal that may help out New Yorkers struggling with alternate side of the street parking regulations. (Photo: Flickr)
NEW YORK (CBS 2/WCBS 880/1010 WINS) – It’s a way of life in New York City that can be both time consuming and frustrating.
Who hasn’t sat in their car for 90 minutes trying to hold on to the perfect spot?
CBS 2’s John Metaxas has more on the proposal to change street cleaning restrictions so there’s less waiting for drivers.
A visitor from another city might not recognize the scene, but it’s an urban dance all too familiar to New Yorkers.
A sanitation truck sweeps by, and folks who have been waiting double parked across the street scramble to get the few parking spots available on the other side.
WCBS 880 Reporter Rich Lamb with details on the councilman’s plan
1010 WINS Reporter Stan Brooks gets reaction to the proposal
Welcome to alternate side of the street parking.
“The sweeper has to come. Then you can move it. After you move your car at 11, you wait until 12:30; otherwise you get a ticket,” Chelsea resident Mina Norton told Metaxas.
It’s New York’s unique form of torture — four days a week, one and a half hours each day. They sit double parked with exhausts belching and traffic snarling — each block on its own unique schedule.
Some people will leave their cars empty, double parked illegally, rather than risking a ticket on the other side of the street or waiting for hours.
But now a city lawmaker wants to give drivers a break.
A bill by Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez would allow them to move their cars once the sweeper has passed, and then leave it, rather than wait until the sign says it’s okay.
He said it’s an issue of quality of life for New Yorkers.
“Working class people, people that have children they’d like to be with, people that want to go back to work,” said Rodriguez, a Democrat representing upper Manhattan, Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill.
And it’s good for air quality, too.
“Very good idea. Excellent. Fair to the people of New York,” said Sarah Savage of the Upper West Side.
“Who wouldn’t [like that]?” added Manhattan resident Felix Nicpon.
But Norton said she was still skeptical.
“It would be great, but I don’t think, you know, who’s there to prove when the sweeper came and when it didn’t?” Norton said.
And the Department of Sanitation said ticket agents would have no way to know if the street had been swept.
New law or not, some said they’d still wait in their cars, because they wouldn’t trust the city to not ticket them.
Councilman Rodriguez countered that the sanitation and traffic departments need to better coordinate their operations to identify the streets that have been swept.
The City Council will hold hearings next week.
10 Comments
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Of course they won’t sweep once a week how are they going to make money off the already heavy taxed citizens of NYC.
November 5, 2010 at 7:23 am
if bloomberg wants to save a few million dolalrs have the alternate side parking regulations once a week. all the fuel saved from the trucks that only get 6 miles per gallon will be a huge savings.
All the people that get stuck behind the trucks and getting to work late – no more!
Less fule and more productivity and better air quality, arent these then things Bloomberg always talks about?
It’s time for the mayor to talk the talk and walk the walk and practice what one preeches!
November 5, 2010 at 12:11 am
How about sweeping one day a week instead of four? Four times a week is ridiculous and a waste of resources.
November 5, 2010 at 12:00 am
How can you tell if the street has been swept?? Hmmmm… shouldn’t it be CLEAN? Otherwise, what’s the point? In NJ the ticket agent follows the sweeper, and writes tickets to the cars that didn’t move in time. Once the sweeper is passed, there is no need to worry about the agent coming back. I think it’s a great idea. Double parked cars are the worst and they should be the ones getting ticketed, not the people who park after the sweeper has already gone by.
November 4, 2010 at 11:58 pm
well good luck to your telling the city to stop a “CASH COW” for them ,it’s not about quality of life its about money-go ahead Mr. Mayor prove us wrong…
And it really does make sense-it a no brainer
November 4, 2010 at 7:48 pm
BRAVO! AWESOME PLAN! They will NEVER allow this to happen because alternate side parking is merely justification to ticket you, a secret tax, nothing more.
November 4, 2010 at 7:42 pm
As a sanitation worker, I feel that this bill would not work. I work in the Bronx and mostly operate the mechanical broom (sweeper). A lot of the streets in the Bronx, especially the west side of the borough are narrow. Sometimes to get to the following line on the route, I would have to go through the same block. Sometimes streets are blocked by double parked cars and I would have to go through another street that I swept twice before. This bill would be great if it only affected two way streets, not one ways. I feel that most one way streets are too narrow to begin with, especially with wide vehicle.
November 4, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Further proof we dont need street cleaning as they say they would be able to tell if the sweeper has been there already or not.
November 4, 2010 at 7:38 pm
if you cant tell if the sweeper came yet, then you don’t need alternate side to start with!
November 4, 2010 at 7:00 pm