No parking on even Wednesdays, from 2am-7am? Why?

[Diamonds02]

Why do I see no parking signs everywhere that lists odd times and days where you cannot park there. What goes on at times like 3am on a Wednesday morning making it unacceptable to park?

[Johnny L.A.]

IME, it's for street cleaning. But 0200 - 0700 is a bit odd. Where I lived in L.A. it was 1000 to noon.

[Colibri]

That's probably when they bring in the street cleaning trucks. (http://www.schmidt-automotive.com/_default/images/2-3/products/used/u_summer/495px_u_cleaning.jpg) If people are parked there, they can't sweep.

[Rigamarole]

What do you mean by an "even" Wednesday? I didn't know days of the week could be even or odd...

And yeah, it's for street cleaning.

[Diamonds02]

What do you mean by an "even" Wednesday? I didn't know days of the week could be even or odd...

And yeah, it's for street cleaning.

I'm not totally sure, I assume they mean the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month.

[VanillaGorilla]

I'm not totally sure, I assume they mean the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month.

Maybe it's the week number? (there are about 52 weeks in a year)
Though, I think we swedes are pretty alone in numbering weeks.

[Nefarious Chipmunk]

Around where I live, it is because they don't want people to leave their cars parked somewhere after a rowdy evening. There are a lot of bars in the area and this can be a problem. This is according to the local peace officers, anyway. If your car can't be parked there at 3am on Wednesday morning, it can't be there all night.

This might explain a parking lot with such rules.

I assume the title means that you can't park there, even on Wednesday night.

[ParentalAdvisory]

That's probably when they bring in the street cleaning trucks. (http://www.schmidt-automotive.com/_default/images/2-3/products/used/u_summer/495px_u_cleaning.jpg) If people are parked there, they can't sweep.

These things are extremely loud during the day, I doubt the midnight hours are a common time for street sweeping.

[Yllaria]

They're usually scheduled for late night-early morning because they don't interfere with traffic that way. They're slow. Also loudish, but people tend to sleep through them.

[psychonaut]

What do you mean by an "even" Wednesday? I didn't know days of the week could be even or odd...No, but dates can be. Wednesday the 20th of May is even, but Wednesday the 27th of May is odd.

[Quercus]

The other reason, aside from street sweeping, is to make sure the spot is used for parking, not long-term storage of non-running vehicles. This way, nobody can just leave their car there for a year at a time.

[BlinkingDuck]

When I was in college, they had street cleaning from 10PM to 4Am MOnday, Weds and Friday.

They seldom cleaned the streets...maybe once every couple of weeks...but the cops were out there everytime ticketing.

I just assume they put the signs up for revenue generation

[Telcontar]

Around where I live, it is because they don't want people to leave their cars parked somewhere after a rowdy evening. There are a lot of bars in the area and this can be a problem. This is according to the local peace officers, anyway. If your car can't be parked there at 3am on Wednesday morning, it can't be there all night.

This might explain a parking lot with such rules.

I assume the title means that you can't park there, even on Wednesday night.

In my town there is no parking on any street from 2am to 6am. It's to ensure "quality of life," by which they mean "no multi-unit apartments" (because you wouldn't be able to own a car and get to work). Here it is pretty clearly a class issue.

In DC there are lots of streets with no parking during rush hour7am-10am and 4-7 IIRC. That's because they turn the parking areas into active lanes.

[Diamonds02]

These all make sense. Thanks for answering this question!

[Diamonds02]

In my town there is no parking on any street from 2am to 6am. It's to ensure "quality of life," by which they mean "no multi-unit apartments" (because you wouldn't be able to own a car and get to work). Here it is pretty clearly a class issue.

I don't quite understand. What do you mean by "no mult-unit apartments"?

[Rumor_Watkins]

I don't quite understand. What do you mean by "no mult-unit apartments"?


Low-rise (2-3 story) apartment buildings. They aren't dense enough to warrant the cost of constructing underground parking, and if you're in the right part of a certain town, it's too expensive to buy up the land for surface parking.

Thus, the tenants invariably start parking their cars on the street. Prohibiting the parking of these cars on the street is a way to ensure that the building never gets built.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Maybe it's the week number? (there are about 52 weeks in a year)
Though, I think we swedes are pretty alone in numbering weeks.
Yeah, it'd probably take me until 7 am on Wednesday just to figure out what week number it was.
I don't quite understand. What do you mean by "no mult-unit apartments"?
Judging by the context, I think that means single-family apartments only - ie., no roommates or any other arrangement that might require multiple cars (and might have parties or something! :eek:)

[Cheesesteak]

Thus, the tenants invariably start parking their cars on the street. Prohibiting the parking of these cars on the street is a way to ensure that the building never gets built.It's also a way to ensure that homeowners provide and use off street parking for their vehicles, instead of using the street as their personal automobile storage.

My town has no overnight parking, and some neighboring towns do. You can always tell when you cross the line, because the curb goes from car-free to car-lined, instantly, and often the houses don't even have space for a driveway, everyone parks on the street.

[Rumor_Watkins]

It's also a way to ensure that homeowners provide and use off street parking for their vehicles, instead of using the street as their personal automobile storage.

Surely if you have enough driveway space for your cars, you wouldn't need to park on the street.

It's a chicken-and-egg kind of thing, but I'd also bet the neighboring town has alot more multi-family, multi-unit apartments

[AskNott]

In neighborhoods near a university, nearby residential street parking tends to get filled up with students' cars that don't get moved until the weekend. Sometimes, they'll cope with that by requiring parking on the opposite side of the street every other day.

Some jokers define a university as a place with 5000 students, 40,000 seats in the football stadium, and 3000 parking spaces.

[dracoi]

Surely if you have enough driveway space for your cars, you wouldn't need to park on the street.

In my suburban neighborhood, the usual line of thinking is this:
* Garages are for tools.
* Driveways are for RVs and boats.
* Streets are for cars.

This partly stems from a county ordinance preventing RVs and boats from being parked on the streets. The homeowner's association has a rule against parking RVs and boats on driveways, but they don't enforce it.

[Rigamarole]

No, but dates can be. Wednesday the 20th of May is even, but Wednesday the 27th of May is odd.

The problem is that is unclear. The OP's interpretation is the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, which would not necessarily yield the same results.

[obfusciatrist]

Where I"ve seen the "odd" or "even" language it referred to whether the date was odd or even.

Essentially this sets up an every two weeks street sweeping schedule without you having to know what happened the previous week and they don't have to get really complex with the sign (my aunt used to live in a giant development that actually put new stickers on their signs every January listing all of the no parking days for street cleaning).

So for this month it would mean no parking on May 13 and 27 and you don't have to worry about what happens with something like "1st and 3rd Tuesday" in a month with five Tuesdays.

[Voyager]

Low-rise (2-3 story) apartment buildings. They aren't dense enough to warrant the cost of constructing underground parking, and if you're in the right part of a certain town, it's too expensive to buy up the land for surface parking.

Thus, the tenants invariably start parking their cars on the street. Prohibiting the parking of these cars on the street is a way to ensure that the building never gets built.

They put in this rule down the street from me, near apartments, except they issued permits that allowed those owning homes near the apartments to park on the street. No additional comment will be made, it being GQ.

[yabob]

Where I"ve seen the "odd" or "even" language it referred to whether the date was odd or even.

Essentially this sets up an every two weeks street sweeping schedule without you having to know what happened the previous week and they don't have to get really complex with the sign (my aunt used to live in a giant development that actually put new stickers on their signs every January listing all of the no parking days for street cleaning).

So for this month it would mean no parking on May 13 and 27 and you don't have to worry about what happens with something like "1st and 3rd Tuesday" in a month with five Tuesdays.
The only rub is that it screws up every time you cross the end of a month with an odd number of days. In such months, the even/oddness of the days in the first week of the subsequent month matches the last week of the current month. You either wind up doing two consecutive weeks or skipping two weeks instead of one. That said, you probably accept it for the sake of simplicity anyway.

[MikeS]

The only rub is that it screws up every time you cross the end of a month with an odd number of days. In such months, the even/oddness of the days in the first week of the subsequent month matches the last week of the current month. You either wind up doing two consecutive weeks or skipping two weeks instead of one.Unless, of course, there are five Wednesdays in that particular month.

[yabob]

Unless, of course, there are five Wednesdays in that particular month.
No, for instance there are five Fridays in this month, which has 31 days. The Fifth Friday is on the 29th - odd. Friday of the following week is on the 5th - also odd. Had this been a month with 30 days, the following Friday would have been on the 6th - even. If we take the rule to mean even or oddness of the day number, five occurrences in a month don't screw up having them alternate, but odd length months do, whether the last weekday is the fourth one or the fifth one.

If you follow the rule that the sign means Wednesdays on odd numbered weeks, a fifth Wednesday goofs up the alternation, with a first Wednesday of the next month the week after the fifth Wednesday of the current month.

[MikeS]

No, for instance there are five Fridays in this month, which has 31 days. The Fifth Friday is on the 29th - odd. Friday of the following week is on the 5th - also odd. Had this been a month with 30 days, the following Friday would have been on the 6th - even. If we take the rule to mean even or oddness of the day number, five occurrences in a month don't screw up having them alternate, but odd length months do, whether the last weekday is the fourth one or the fifth one.You're correct, of course. I'm not sure what I was smokin' back there.