NYC Drivers Brace For Return Of Alternate Side Parking:
Keeping a car on the street in NYC is the biggest source of annoyance.
For more than a century, alternate side parking has been a headache for city drivers, and things are about to get much worse.
Full alternate side parking schedule back July 5
After stopping the harsh policy in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, NYC decided to resume it on July 5. There are fewer morning car movements in the Big Apple because to once-weekly street cleaning, which has been in place for two years. Now, a petition to overturn the latest judgement has already received hundreds of signatures online.
There are a lot more cars in the city now, so the full return of ASP won’t just be like going back to the pre-COVID era.
According to the New York Times, car registrations increased by 76 percent in Manhattan and by 45 percent in Brooklyn from August to October of 2020.
Ian Moubayed, a resident of Boerum Hill, told The Post that he has been feeling the pinch.
Since people have started returning to the city, “everything is more competitive now, everyone is more aggressive,” he remarked.
Like many New Yorkers, director Moubayed will spend the ASP hour in his car working on projects or reading a good book. Once the street sweeper has past, he will reclaim his old position.
However, in April, a dispute over a different side spot on Smith and Hoyt streets almost resulted in a physical altercation with the driver of a blue Tesla.
The Tesla “violated the unwritten laws of the road” by executing a “nose dive” at the area Moubayed was waiting for after the driver drew out to let the dust truck do its thing, the driver claimed.
The seasoned Brooklynite responded immediately by slamming his 2009 Audi A6 into place, putting the rivals on the road to a standstill. Moubayed didn’t get his racing stripes or the space to go with them until a cop behind the Tesla sounded his siren, forcing the car to move. He tweeted his victory with pride.
He then got out of his car, approached my window, and began cursing at me, calling me an a—t. I simply said, “F- -k you, man.” I could care less. After sparring with him, I was enraged for thirty minutes, Moubayed recalled.
The two-day return will be “awful,” he continued, calling the incident “the most New York-centric parking incident I had ever been a part of.”
Richie Romero, a resident of West Village and the owner of the Manhattan company Zazzy’s Pizza, claims that even when fists aren’t flying, there is still plenty of anger on the roads as a result of the parking regulations.
“Now I’ll have to move my car four times a week,” he said. My summer was wrecked by the news. Romero referred to ASP as a “middle class tax” and added, “I already spend such an annoying [amount of] time trying to park.
The owner of the pizzeria uses a unique method to clear space on the congested streets. To fit in a position, he said, “I’ll have buddies get out of my car and move motorcycles, Revels, and scooters.”
Aggressive drivers employ a variety of strategies, Astoria resident Elena Dimkaros said.
For eight years, Dimkaros has parked on Queens streets. “People will stand in areas to guard them or put cones down to try to discourage someone from parking,” he added. It becomes too much.
Others “give up” driving in New York City instead of seeking for parking holes. Vicky Poumpouridis, an Astoria resident who lives close to Dimkaros, is one of them.
She added that outdoor dining establishments had only made the issue worse: “I’ll attempt to go to Broadway [in Queens] and spend 40 minutes trying to park and just return back home to go somewhere in walking distance.”
Poumpouridis has a garage, but she doesn’t want ASP to return. “New York City is becoming increasingly difficult and hostile. People aren’t given any breaks, and after a time, it really wears you out,” she remarked.
Some locals on the other side of the street are in favor of the twice-weekly revival.
On East 80th Street between Second and Third Avenues on the Upper East Side, floral designer Sibel Mermelstein and nail salon owner Kira Philips complained about the amount of trash that accumulates outside the shops of their respective businesses.
“Cars don’t even move at all for the street sweeper, so they don’t even get the majority of the waste… “My cigarette butt from three weeks ago is still there,” said Philips, pointing at a line of cars that had been sitting unmoving for days on end.
Citywide, what they have observed is taking place. Jessica Tisch, the sanitation commissioner, stated last month that approximately 50% of city drivers fail to move their vehicles for ASP, adding that the full return will compel drivers to move their vehicles.
“The policy created a climate where too many people thought that an occasional ASP ticket was just a part of doing business… The motorized broom, our most potent instrument for keeping the streets clean, was mostly sidelined because it went on for much too long.
Retailers like Mermelstein assert that the moment is finally right.
I finally opened my store in February after waiting my entire life to do so. Now, to get rid of the garbage’s odor, I literally have to hose down my walkway each day, she said. “We welcome New York’s return, but New York also has to have our support.”
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