Eyes on the Street: Occupied Territory
Here is a vehicle up in the Bronx that is too large for its driveway. So its owner just takes the sidewalk.
November 21, 2006
15 Comments
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Glenn
This happens all the time in the city. Furthermore, people with curbcuts will park their own cars in front of the curbcuts. What part of "off street parking" don't they understand?
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da
The piece of string holding the gates closed shows a nice consideration for the neighbors.
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Adam
Plus it looks like there's a garage behind the truck. I'm guessing the car is too big for the garage & the owner didn't want to leave the garage door open (obviously security-conscious since they tied the gate shut) - and/or the garage just has another vehicle in it, or is full of other stuff.
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steveo
I just walked on a street in Midtown Manhattan with about 120 cars parked on the sidewalk. They were angle-parked with their back wheels on the street. In some places, the space left on the sidewalk was not wide enough for two people to pass by comfortably at the same time.
Can anyone guess what particular type of building I also encountered on this street?
I was wondering why they couldn't just block off the street to motorized traffic if they need that much parking. It would certainly inconvenience plenty fewer people.
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Aaron
Hmmm... Let me guess. A police precinct building?
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ddartley
I have seen one such Precinct in Manhattan. I would bet there are more. All the parked private vehicles had two wheels on the sidewalk. What's great is that all that private parking causes the parking of actual police vehicles to spill over into the rest of the vicinity. It's especially convenient for them if they have a nice, new, *side-of-street* bike lane in which to park.
How about rather than punish cops for this (and cultivate an even greater cultural chasm between many cops and actual New York residents), help them: give them free unlimited Metro Cards. It's not a new idea.
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steveo
How do you do it, Aaron? Are you psychic?
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Mike
I used to bike past a house in Ft. Greene that does the same thing (also SUV, hmmm...). I once flagged down a traffic cop to point it out. I didn't stick around to see if she wrote the ticket. I always wanted to call 311, but never got around to it.
There's also a garage on Vanderbilt and Sterling in Prospect Heights where that happens. I called 311 but nothing happened. I did get a message from the local precinct asking for more info, but never called them back.
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AD
Aw, Mike, you should have called them back!
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gv
i really hate that shit
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Fendergal
A lot of cops don't live in the Five Boroughs, so giving them a MetroCard isn't going to help get them out of their cars. I would just like to see existing laws enforced against everyone equally--I know, dream on!
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Rob
Where exactly do these cops live? New Jersey? Westchester? Conneticut? Long Island? Last time I checked there was rail lines to all of those places. The ease of parking provides a lack of incentive to seek alternate means of transportation into New York's CDB which hurts pedestrians.
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P
Curb cuts are a blight on New York's neighborhoods in addition to being an outrageous privatization of public space.
This man has only taken it one step further than is seen throughout the city.
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Aaron
Bruce Schaller found that something like 90% of the government employees who are commuting into Lower Manhattan by car originate their trips from zip codes where the majority of their neighbors use transit to get to work.
In other words, thousands of these guys don't need to drive to get to work in Manhattan. They drive because they have free parking.
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Steve
One of the worst spots is on the south portion of the bridle path in Central Park, across from the precinct. Not only are there a ton of official police vehicles parked there, but numerous private vehicles, many of which do not have a permit or anything else on the dash. In addition, there is a retired parks department offical (according to the permit on the dash) who has left his sedan with Connecticut plates parked there on the bridle path in the exact same spot for the last week. I'm tempted to get a car and park there myself just to see what happens.
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