# NYC parking -- Do people really live like this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2017, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162 "2017-07-13T10:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/41 "2017-07-13T19:38:25Z")
Should I mention the chaos that ensues after a heavy snow? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/42 "2017-07-13T19:42:04Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > My frame of reference is suburban living, but what I would expect is that the cost of parking would be embedded in the condo rental rate. Especially if the parking is a lower level of the same building - if it’s in a different location from the home then I do see that it would be a separate charge. As most households do not have a car, then building the parking space rental into the rate for the condo would mean that most people are paying for a spot they are not using. Ala carte makes more sense in that situation. If I lived in NY, I would probably find a parking garage on the outskirts of the city, that is close to a subway entrance, and get a spot there. There really does not seem to be any reason to have a car IN the city, and if you only need it when you are leaving, why drive through any more traffic than you need to? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/43 "2017-07-13T19:46:08Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > It does, and it sucks - but the thing is the people giving the tickets after the street has been swept have no way of knowing it was already swept. Lets say parking is prohibited from 8-9:30. The sweeper comes through at 9:10, and you park because you saw the sweeper go through and a traffic agent or cop gives you a ticket at 9:20. That ticket writer most likely has has no way of knowing that the sweeper already went through and s/he certainly wouldn’t know if the sweeper had gone through at 8:30. There’s really no way to avoid it unless you have the sanitation police drive ahead of every street sweeper to chase cars and write tickets. That happens on some of the commercial streets \* but it’s probably not practical for that to happen citywide. > > There is a five minute grace period at the beginning, though, so you won’t get a ticket until 8:05. > > - In my experience, you don’t get tickets after the sweeper has passed on those streets- they tend to have an early half hour window where parking is prohibited and the regular traffic agents don’t appear until after the meters go into effect. It also means that you will invariably get a ticket if you block the sweeper. I can confidently say, based on this post, that there is something majorly wrong with the whole system. Either (1) the cops are blind, if they can’t even tell whether the sweeper has been through, (2) sweeping does absolutely no good and is a waste of time, money, and effort, or (3) the streets don’t need to be swept nearly that often. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/44 "2017-07-13T19:49:22Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > NYC is no place to be a car owner. > > In addition to the factors mentioned above, > > • the city _does not want_ you to own a freaking car. Seriously. They don’t want you driving. There isn’t enough roadspace for a bunch of private cars. Damn selfish of people to be owning their own private cars, streets are for buses, taxis, delivery trucks and vans, fire trucks, and cops. Ride the subway or take the bus like everyone else, willya? In addition to the mass transit options, NYC residents can take taxicabs, black car services, Uber or Lyft. They can also use a car sharing service like Zipcar. It’s quite possible to live without a car, and in fact some city residents never get a driver’s license. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/45 "2017-07-13T20:12:06Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > My frame of reference is suburban living, but what I would expect is that the cost of parking would be embedded in the condo rental rate. I see. Around here, it’s not safe to assume that if you’re renting a condo, a parking space comes with it. That does need to be specifically mentioned. For example, we own a condo we rent out, but we don’t have a parking space we own in the building. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/46 "2017-07-13T20:18:34Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > As most households do not have a car, then building the parking space rental into the rate for the condo would mean that most people are paying for a spot they are not using. > > Ala carte makes more sense in that situation. > > If I lived in NY, I would probably find a parking garage on the outskirts of the city, that is close to a subway entrance, and get a spot there. There really does not seem to be any reason to have a car IN the city, and if you only need it when you are leaving, why drive through any more traffic than you need to? They may exist but I have never seen or heard of any large NYC building that includes the parking space. Larger buildings will generally have a garage or some provision for off-street parking but I’ve never seen a building that has a space for every apartment. My building, for example, has 82 apartments and 25 parking spaces. The spaces are rented separately, residents get priority but there’s nothing to prevent the building management from renting spaces to non-residents. The city has an interest in keeping down on street parking and the zoning laws frequently mandate parking spaces. For new construction, the zoning of the neighborhood will determine how much off-street parking is required. The less dense zoning districts require a parking space for each dwelling unit, but those areas don’t allow large multi-unit apartment blocks. Denser areas will require off-street parking for a percentage of units, say 50% or 70% with waivers given for smaller buildings. And in certain neighborhoods the off-street parking requirement is eliminated. And of course this is just for new building, old buildings are grandfathered in. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/47 "2017-07-13T20:32:57Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It’s real. > > Things are a lot more crowded and there is a lot more traffic. Also winter. > > What’s a house? > > OK, seriously - the vast majority of NYC residents live in multifamily buildings ranging from townhouses to huge apartment buildings. Much of this was built before cars were common and few buildings have garages. There are suburban-esque areas in Queens and Staten Island and even some spots in Brooklyn and those places have single-family homes with driveways and garages. Obviously, it’s not an issue in those places. But those constitute a tiny minority of residents. > > If you want a real culture shock, consider this: fewer than 45% of households in NYC even own a car, and the number of licensed drivers is the lowest in North America. I lived in Manhattan as a child, and for a good part of my 20s and 30s. My parents did not own a car when we lived there, and I did not own a car when I lived there. I had a driver’s license as an adult, but most of the time, it was an Indiana driver’s license. I would renew it when I visited my aunt and uncle, with their address. All I ever used it for was to write a check, and maybe two or three times to rent a car, and I’d just say I’d moved, and hadn’t gotten a new one yet, and nobody cared. Public transportation is great in NYC, and I was perfectly content using it. I rarely even used cabs. To go to the doctor when I was very sick, or to buy some very large item, like a TV back in the day, those were about the only times I ever used a cab. There were buses on every corner, and the subway gets you places fast. I wish that Indianapolis had such public transportation. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/48 "2017-07-13T20:42:33Z")
It’s real, and it’s spectacular. And by spectacular I mean a horrible pain in the ass. I lived in Manhattan 15 years and recently moved to Jersey City, in another _state_, and still have to deal with it. I mean, JC may as well be in NYC, but still. Where we live, it’s Mondays and Thursdays on one side, and Tuesdays and Fridays on the other. Nothing on Wednesdays or the weekend, but good luck finding a spot then. The good thing though is they’re pretty consistent, so even though the signs say 1-3pm, we know it’s almost always 1:35 that they come. So we like to live dangerously and wait before heading to the car. Plus you can hear that little warning car a mile away, the one that honks for people to move because the sweeper is right behind it. Then we just double-park on the other side for a second, let it pass, and put it right back where it was. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/49 "2017-07-13T21:05:36Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Quote: > Some non-zero percent of those people accidently drop gum, coffee cups, papers, hot dogs, falafels, and other trash in the street every day > > Yeah…accidentally…OK, you said “non-zero”, but I’ll bet that the percent is somewhere south of two who have accidents rather than are inconsiderate and/or careless. I now recall the second to last episode of Girls where Hannah describes how she saw someone shit in the street and now realizes that some percentage of the shit in the streets of New York is not from dogs. > [@cmkeller](#): > > None. This city (and state) love nothing more than siphoning the money out of its citizens’ pockets, and motorists are particularly juicy target. To play devil’s advocate, imagine if everyone in New York who got a ticket on “street sweeping day” decided to fight it with the argument “but the sweeper already went past” or “it was still blocks away!”. It would be a major and expensive legal hassle of figuring out where and when the cars and sweepers were weeks after the fact. So they just simply it with “no parking on such and such day…end of story”. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/50 "2017-07-13T23:06:29Z")
When I lived in NY 55 years ago, there was no parking on one side of my street Monday and Thursday, 11:00-2:00 and on the other side Tuesday and Friday. You go out at 11:00 and all the cars have moved to double park on the other side and come at 1:30 and they are all moving back. Actually wait till 2:00 and you have lost your spot. I lived this way for over a year. I had a GF (currently wife) who lived in Greenwich, CT and driving was the only way to get there. Now my son lived in Brooklyn for a couple years about ten years ago. He lived on a short black adjacent to Flatbush Ave. and they cleaned the street once a week in a half hour window, maybe 8:30-9:00. Once I was visiting and we were both parked near his apartment and, at 8:30, we both double parked on the other side and waited. Sure enough 15 minutes, the street cleaner came through, trailed by a lineup of the cars that had been double parked. My son performed this dance every week and, once the street cleaner came through, no one was ever ticketed. My daughter lives a few blocks from there. At first, they didn’t have a car. But the convenience of being able to drive to her in-laws and also to drive to shopping finally impelled them to get one. If there is no parking say on Tuesday 9:30-11:00 where they are parked, my SIL will go out Monday night and hunt for a place that is legal till the end of the week. It is just a way of life in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/51 "2017-07-13T23:27:59Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Should I mention the chaos that ensues after a heavy snow? Then its no place for me! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/52 "2017-07-14T00:51:01Z")
doreen: > [@](#): > > It does, and it sucks - but the thing is the people giving the tickets after the street has been swept have no way of knowing it was already swept. Sure there is. Have them accompany/follow the sweepers (or empower the sweepers themselves to ticket) rather than patrol the affected streets for the entire sweeping window. msmith537: > [@](#): > > To play devil’s advocate, imagine if everyone in New York who got a ticket on “street sweeping day” decided to fight it with the argument “but the sweeper already went past” or “it was still blocks away!”. It would be a major and expensive legal hassle of figuring out where and when the cars and sweepers were weeks after the fact. > > So they just simply it with “no parking on such and such day…end of story”. Oh, I agree wholeheartedly with the rule being what it is - if ticketed, you have no defense within the entire time window for street sweeping - but I hate that it’s enforced the way it is (for maximum revenue) rather than as I suggested above, which would punish only those whose parking actually had adverse consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/53 "2017-07-14T01:18:45Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I live in San Francisco, where we have similar parking (and street sweeping issues). I also live in SF, in a residential neighborhood. Our street has only single family homes and each has a garage; population density is increased by the fact that all the homes are on 25’ frontages and have zero lot lines. 90% of the garages are used either for storage or living space, so they park on the street. We have 2 cars and only one garage space, so one of them is on the street. Fortunately, a few years ago street sweeping went from every week to every other week, so we only have to play musical cars that often. We have a choice space in front of our house (big enough for 1.5 normal cars) so we take a lot of care not to lose it - if the person driving that car has to leave, we move the other car out of the garage to save the space (I wouldn’t but my spouse insists). On street cleaning day, we park the street car in the driveway (illegally blocking the sidewalk, but really there is nowhere else to put it) and wait for the street cleaner to go by so we can be sure not to lose “our” spot. This is all a big joke anyway, because the stupid street cleaning truck thing leaves more trash behind than it picks up. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/54 "2017-07-14T02:02:44Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > doreen: > > Sure there is. Have them accompany/follow the sweepers (or empower the sweepers themselves to ticket) rather than patrol the affected streets for the entire sweeping window. That’s not a way for them to know in the current situation, but sure, it could be done that way everywhere , instead of just on certain streets. Of course, they would have to write enough additional tickets to pay for the increased cost- because if the drivers are are getting out of the sweepers to write tickets , they will take longer to cover the same area (and we’d have to go back to the 3 hour window instead of the current 90 minute one). Even if you’re going to have the sanitation police/traffic agents travel with each street sweeper you will need more of them. Although my guess is actually that having the ticket-writers travel with the sweepers will probably increase the number of tickets written. I know it’s aggravating to get a ticket when you know the sweeper has already passed, but I also know there are blocks where you could block the street sweeper twice a week for a year and maybe get ten tickets- because ticket writers just don’t go down that block. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/55 "2017-07-14T03:53:29Z")
Maybe the sweepers could write down the plate numbers, or just photograph the plates. The tickets could be mailed. That wouldn’t slow them down as much. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/56 "2017-07-14T04:03:20Z")
I forgot to mention: the ticketing folks on the little trucksters know perfectly well when the sweepers have gone by, because they swarm just in front of them. It’s quite a dance they do - they come around just a few minutes after the “No Parking” time starts, and then again just before the sweeper comes by. They don’t ticket here if the sweeper has gone by, probably due to the risk of armed uprising. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/57 "2017-07-14T04:12:39Z")
Boston is like that too. I used to live in a relatively quiet section of the Brighton area when I first got married but parking was a big deal. I could get reliable on-street parking before 6pm but you couldn’t drive after that or you weren’t getting it back unless you really lucked out. My then-wife used to get home between 8 and 9pm back then and she would have to park blocks away after circling for half an hour waiting for someone to leave. We used to regularly get parking tickets that totaled $300 - $400 a month and just paid them as part of the household budget. That was still much cheaper than renting two dedicated parking spaces two blocks away ($600 a month in the late 90’s). The worst was snowstorms but I found a hack for that. There was a major hospital 1/2 mile away with a large parking garage and (relatively) cheap parking for the Boston area. I would just put my car there and hike home even during a blizzard. It certainly wasn’t fun but it sure beat trying to find out where your car got towed to and paying the bill for that privilege. People love to talk about how great living in big cities is but it also sucks in many basic ways as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/58 "2017-07-14T11:10:11Z")
I still have stress dreams about parking. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/59 "2017-07-14T11:26:34Z")
It’s been mentioned briefly but it’s important to point out that in many cities the requirement to move you car from time-to-time helps reduce the number of non-running cars left on the streets. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162/60 "2017-07-14T11:49:38Z")
One town I lived in considered any car not moved in 72 (?) hours to be abandoned. I generally only drove on weekends, but fortunately never ran afoul of that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-parking-do-people-really-live-like-this/791162.md?page=4)