As the coronavirus lockdown kept John Thomas holed up in his Manhattan apartment for weeks on end, fearful to go out even to shop, there was one silver lining that made him especially happy: He could leave his Subaru parked on the street without having to move it for the usual morning street cleaning.
That changed on Monday.
For the first time in more than two months, alternate-side parking rules went into effect in New York City, forcing Mr. Thomas, a 70-year-old painter, to interrupt his self-quarantine and again partake in a roundly reviled ritual of life in the five boroughs.
He and other anxious New Yorkers who had left their cars on public streets for weeks donned face coverings and gloves and ventured out of their homes to start their dusty cars and abide by the restrictions, which prohibit parking on the side of the street scheduled for sweeping.
There was some predictable grumbling that requiring drivers to move their cars during a pandemic seemed to contradict stay-at-home orders.
“It’s been a pleasure not having to move the car, especially because I’m staying inside these days to avoid the virus,” said Mr. Thomas, who started his Subaru on West 108th Street in Manhattan, giving up his precious curbside parking spot to make way for the street sweeper.
But along with the resumed drudgery, drivers like Mr. Thomas also acknowledged that the task did pose a hopeful sign that, with the virus showing signs of retreat, the city was inching back to normalcy, even as stores, restaurants and other parts of metropolitan life remain shut down.
“It’s tough for older people like myself to have to come out and do it,” he said, “but I have to admit, it is kind of reassuring in the sense that you realize some things in the city are going to continue.”
Another driver on West 108th Street put it more bluntly.
“It’s a sign we’re coming back, abso-freaking-lutely,” said Mark Pine, a maker of sailing apparel, as he sat in his car with his usual coffee and cigarette while double parked on the downtown side of the street so that the uptown side could be swept.
The reinstatement is a brief one. After Sunday, the city will suspend alternate side parking again for at least two more weeks. The city’s Department of Sanitation will then assess when to schedule the next street cleaning.
The regulations, which make for a musical chairs-type dance to secure free spots in dense parts of the city where parking is a premium, had been suspended since mid-March — one of their longest hiatuses ever — as part of the coronavirus lockdown.
Another driver nearby, Steve Bate, 61, had moved his Subaru Outback.
“It’s one shred of normalcy that has come back,” he said. “Of course, it’s the one shred of normalcy we’d rather do without. But annoying as it is, it’s also a reminder of how life used to be.”
In March, as the city began issuing stronger restrictions because of the outbreak, many New Yorkers and elected officials criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio for insisting that parking rules be continued so that sweepers could keep streets clean for “public health” reasons. Motorists who did not move their cars faced a $65 fine, but no cars in the area appeared to have been ticketed.
Some drivers found surprises upon returning to their long-parked vehicles. Car owners a few blocks away even discovered that rats had taken up residency under their hoods.
City sanitation officials called the street sweeping necessary to clean litter and debris that had accumulated along the curb and under parked cars, even with fewer New Yorkers on the street.
At a news conference last week, Mayor de Blasio said that reinstating the regulations for this week would “help us reset for the future.”
He said the suspension “has helped people, made their lives a little easier, helped people stay inside,” and added that “the goal here is, if we do that one-week cleanup, hopefully that will last us a substantial period of time.”
The temporary return of the rules also served a social function on close-knit city blocks like Mr. Thomas’s stretch of West 108th Street. Being forced back into the old parking routine brought estranged neighbors together — but not too close, pal! — for spontaneous and much needed in-person chats.
Clutching car keys, they reconnected in conversations shouted across streets and across the tops of cars, to ensure social distancing.
Many had known, or were related to, people who have died from the virus, but there were few grim conversations about deaths and hospitalizations.
Instead, the talk was of the mundane, street-level issues that many New Yorkers love to banter about: how the shutdown did the impossible in easing the city’s notoriously horrible traffic and parking conditions. How it emptied out much of this Upper West Side neighborhood of students from nearby Columbia University, as well as people with the luxury of having second homes outside the city.
“It feels like summer already, like everyone’s away on vacation,” Mr. Pine said.
Hayden Ashton, a tennis pro, remained focused on the city’s decision to suspend the regulations.
“Look at it — it’s not even dirty after two months of no street sweeping,” he said, standing outside his S.U.V. and pointing down the street. “Think of how many people the city is forcing outside with this, every day. We don’t need this right now. And they have to keep re-sweeping the street the whole week?”
Nearby, a woman in a well-traveled 1994 van said she was happy just to be able to start up her engine. The woman, who would only give her “artist name,” Hawk Hardly, said she had parked the van there nearly two months ago, after driving it from Colorado to take care of her parents in Manhattan.
“It’s the last thing anyone needs right now,” she said about the regulations. “I get it, we need clean streets, but I certainly don’t want to be out here.”
The rules will also be suspended on Thursday for the Feast of the Ascension, a Christian holiday.
Eric Strout, 28, a Columbia University student, parked his Toyota Highlander on Riverside Drive just after the street sweeper passed.
“It’s a pain in the neck,” Mr. Strout said, “but it’s a little reassuring that normal rules are starting to kick in.”
"back" - Google News
May 21, 2020 at 01:03AM
https://ift.tt/2WLGzQc
N.Y.C. Wants Some Normalcy? Fine. Alternate Side Parking Is Back. - The New York Times
"back" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QNOfxc
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "N.Y.C. Wants Some Normalcy? Fine. Alternate Side Parking Is Back. - The New York Times"
Post a Comment