I just got back from Buenos Aires where taxis were much smaller (often Chevy Astras, sometimes Corsa station wagons) and without the plastic partition we were able to fit 4 large guys in them. I took an escape with four people one night and almost was squeezed to death. Aren’t the partitions kind of things of the past?

Lie. Because all US gas taxes are on the idiotic cents per gallon scale instead of a percentage of sale price, the American public is specifically not participating in this “windfall” caused by surging global demand and expiring global supply. In fact our gas tax revenues are declining (slightly) along with consumption.

A community that knows each other better and trusts one another give each other rides and loan their cars to each other.

Or they should consider munimeters for all day parking.

You need the car to prove you are in the “middle class,” but you can’t afford to use it. And moving it back and forth across the street for alternate side is a waste of money, and doesn’t seem worth it if you can only afford to drive once a month.

“That’s a driveway, darling.”

“What’s a driveway, mommy?”

“Back in the early 21st century, when lots of people had cars, they would park their cars in driveways.”

“But no one we know has a car, except for a few rich people in Manhattan.”

“Well, back in those days, people had more cars.”

“I don’t like this driveway. It looks stupid. The people who did this were stupid!”

“Not stupid, sweetie, just delusional. They thought the age of cheap gasoline would last forever. But the peak oil crisis put an end to that. Now let’s get a move on or we’ll miss the BRT.”

There is also a provision, I believe, where you don’t get a ticket for parking in front of your own house and blocking your own curb cut. So a curb cut saves the space for you, and you can fill the garage with junk. While you are gone what could have been an on-street space is empty.

In order to stop this, certain zoning districts have a rule that requires 34 feet between curb cuts and bans front yard parking, including the R5B district in Windsor Terrace. To see how effective this is look at the recent building on 17th Street bewtween 10th and 11th Avenues.

The zoning (passed in 1989, not an obsolete and long-forgotten provision) intended a single curb cut to access a basement or rear yard parking facility, something that would have been easy to do given the slope of the street. And that’s what the self-certified plans showed.

Take a look at what you get after some political influence and after-the-fact legalization. BTW, the zoning also required the new building to line up with those on either side. It makes a nice picture of a “livable street.”

The rules, all the rules, are a joke — and are either never enforced except against certain people, or are enforced except against certain people, depending on the rule.