Brooklyn Parking Wars

Three months and two (hefty) parking tickets later, I think I've finally figured out the parking system in Brooklyn. Well, in my neighborhood of it anyway. If I ever move to another neighborhood, I'm sure I'll be back to Square One!

I drive my car three times pretty much every week. Once on Sunday night to avoid the Monday morning street cleaning. Then on Monday night to avoid the Tuesday morning street cleaning. And then one last time on Wednesday night to avoid the Thursday morning street cleaning. That's it. Often even when I would want to drive somewhere I opt not to because I'd rather not have to deal with finding a parking space when I get home.

Street cleaning only lasts an hour and a half, and it alternates sides of the street and by block. The cleaning times on most of the streets around me are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 9-10:30. Back when I was unemployed, this was pretty easy-- I only had to move my car twice a week. I'd leave my house at 10:20 on a Tuesday morning, drive my car around the block, and park in a "Street Cleaning Tuesdays 9-10:30" spot, starting at 10:31. Then I would do the same thing on Thursday mornings. You would think that with this kind of system it'd be easy to just move from one side of the street to the other. But to my surprise, even this tactic didn't always result in a ready space. How do people beat me to the spots without getting tickets?? I just couldn't figure it out.

And then I got a job. Forget about it! If you can't find a spot at 10:31; good luck finding a spot the night before every single car owner needs to move his vehicle! So three nights a week I would dedicate at least a half hour to moving my car. And every time I would think, Boy I sure am glad I brought my car to New York.... so I can drive it around Brooklyn looking for a place to park it. Not.

I should have moved it last night, but I was out late with Tim and Steve and totally forgot until I fell into bed at 1am. Ugh, I'll just move it in the morning, and I reset my alarm for two hours earlier than I'd wanted to get up.

Little did I know I was about to solve the mystery that has been haunting me for the past few months! Double-parking?!?!?!?! I thought they only did that in South Philly!!! But sure enough, on block after block, the left side of the street was clear and the right side was filled with two lines of parked cars. What have I got to lose? and I pulled in behind a parked car. I just sat there for a while-- really not wanting another ticket, but also really not wanting to continue driving around for no reason (I'd already been circling for twenty minutes, and it was clear no one was going anywhere in the near future).

The street cleaning truck passed by; then the Parking Authority woman. She walked past the whole line of double-parked cars and never once approached to give a ticket. For real? I was starting to get excited. So after she leaves, do I just put my car back where it was? I waited. None of the other cars budged (I could see a few other drivers sitting in their cars, so I decided to let them take the lead). Other drivers had clearly gone back home or to get coffee or run to Trader Joe's. I'm gonna risk it. So I locked my car and headed home. I decided I may as well get ready while I waited for the time to pass, so I took my shower, checked my email-- and then started to get nervous. I really don't want another ticket. I'll just hang out in my car for a bit. So at 10:00 I headed back outside. Lo and behold, a few cars were back on the left side of the street. But not all of them.... and then, upon further inspection, I realized that all the cars on the left side were occupied. Aha! So I, too, moved my car to the left side of the street and just hung out. I made phone calls, sent a few emails, spent some time praying. It was actually a pretty productive half hour! A few Parking Authority employees walked past, but they never bothered any of the cars that were occupied.

At 10:30 car doors started to open, and I guess people just went back to whatever they'd been doing before. It's like it's just part of the weekly schedule: Thursday morning- move car from one side of the street to the other for an hour; then move it back and sit there for a half hour. It's weird, granted. But hey, it's New York. They get away with doing a lot of weird things here!