If we (and I'm using that in The New York Times Op Ed "Royal We" sense of the word) had any doubts that The Big Apple is the locus of America's anti-car jihad, scribe Hope Cohen is determined to remove them. In the provocatively titled "No Parking, Ever," Cohen argues that Hizzoner has the "four wheels bad" religion, but lacks sufficient zeal. "Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg… the department has been encouraging alternative transportation by reassigning street space long reserved for cars and trucks to bikes, buses and pedestrians. To accommodate all this movement, the city can no longer be as accommodating as it has been toward stationary vehicles. Before traffic reaches a standstill, as it threatens to do, the city should start phasing out curbside parking." Deftly played, Hope. As is this little carrot. "It is vital that vehicles move smoothly and quickly through New York City’s streets, delivering people and goods to their destinations. Making room for vehicles that are not moving should be a far lower priority." I can understand why they don't, but it really grinds my gears (Jonny) that anti-car advocates don't just come out and call for a passenger car ban. 'Cause you know that's what they really, really want.
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“I can understand why they don’t, but it really grinds my gears (Jonny) that anti-car advocates don’t just come out and call for a passenger car ban. ‘Cause you know that’s what they really, really want.”
Straight out of the old communist handbook: The issue is never the issue.
Lemme guess, Hotel California reference in the title there? That’s awesome if that’s the case.
“…it’s a girl my lord in a flat-bed ford slowing down to take a look at me…”
Or she’s looking for a parking spot.
Wow…how dare a city think that moving vehicles, of any sort, number of wheels, or mode of propulsion, should have space if that interferes with parking.
Or, moving to the opposite coast…
For example, more than 70% of San Francisco’s downtown outdoor space is dedicated to the private vehicle SF PARKing.
How dare anyone claim any of that space. Kommies, they must be.
(Some of us simply assume that parking in dense urban centers is bound to be difficult and expensive, and plan accordingly.)
“Sock hop, soda pop, basketball and auto shop,
The only thing that got you off was breakin’ all the rules.”
And finding a parking space.
“She said listen, baby you can hear the engine
ring, we’ve been up and down this highway
haven’t seen a g0dd@m thing.”
Or a parking spot.
I’m not at all familiar with the political lay of the land in New York City, so I followed the links to the NYT opinion piece and checked out the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Rethinking Development. With all due respect, Robert, I’m not feeling the depth of your concerns. At all.
Now maybe I’m showing my ignorance and naivete. And maybe the underlying issues are so white and black that all attempts at middle-ground positions are illusory once you dig below the surface. If so, I’m not seeing the evidence in your write up or in the links.
Parking is a challenging issue for any major city built upon a limited amount of land. If you have ideas for how you think New York City could better deal with parking, that would be an interesting read.
“She drives on through the night anticipating
‘Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel”
and she knows if she hits the City by 6am she might find a parking space
Dr Lemming:
Parking is a challenging issue for any major city built upon a limited amount of land. If you have ideas for how you think New York City could better deal with parking, that would be an interesting read.
Getting rid of curbside parking is not the answer. Oh wait; hang on. What’s the question? Is it how do we change the parking situation in The Big Apple to…
1. Make Manhattan’s air cleaner?
2. Stop the planet from warming?
3. INCREASE average traffic speeds (as the author clearly suggests, forgetting any safety issues related to raising average speeds)?
4. Reduce NYC’s private vehicle traffic (for whatever reason)?
5. Raise more money for public transportation (certainly not by removing all those parking fees and fines)?
6. Make it easier for the Mayor to get to his meetings (police escort excepted)?
7. Indulge the New York City intelligentsia’s antipathy for the private automobile?
Seriously: what IS the point of this debate? If you can tell me that, I can tell you what I think should be done. Which may not be as informed as Ms. Hope’s opinion, but I’d be willing to give it a try.
I assume NYC has plenty of commuter rail, where non-residents of Manhattan may park their vehicles prior to travelling into Manhattan. That might address at least some of your questions, at least 1, 3, and 4. Similarly, I’d have little sympathy for someone who isn’t a resident of SF complaining that they can’t find a place to park downtown when they can readily, and more cheaply, park in a ferry lot or BART station. Residents of SF, and NYC, of course, can, should, and will vigorously debate how much of their public space should be used for vehicles, as opposed to other uses.
Robert’s right. Instead of replacing rows of parking spaces with moving lanes, the answer should be just the opposite. New York needs to replace rows of traffic lanes with parking spaces. Then that would certainly speed up traffic and solve all the world’s problems.
How about 3 rows of parking spaces per 1 row of moving traffic? Does that sound like a plan?
Suggested QOTD: How should NYC deal with its traffic problem?
HawaiiJim :
Suggested QOTD: How should NYC deal with its traffic problem?
Sorry to do the dog with a bone thing, but what EXACTLY is the problem? Do we want to reduce City traffic, speed it up, slow it down (to encourage public transportation), tax it off the streets (i.e. reserve the roads for the really rich) or what?
I know I’m one of the few people on this planet who views traffic as a welcome sign of economic vitality, a “problem” that helps spread prosperity out from a city center, but I’m happy to ditch that perspective to perform an intellectual exercise.
There are plenty of “out of the box” (don’t block the box?) solutions for any of these goals. And just as many unintended consequences, waiting to happen.
i will be in broklyn heights on saturday of labor day weekend looking for free street parking. the alternitive is 35 bucks a day garage parking.
god help me.
PS, the average speed in manhatten if there is no traffic around is 107 mph.
PSS: You used to be able to park in Hells Kitchen easily, now its filled with stupid expensive condos. DAMN.
Sorry to harp on (no I’m not) about this, but what EXACTLY is the problem?
Aren’t you the one who complained about a NYT Op Ed? We’re the ones who should be asking this question!
I assume the problem is that public space in a dense urban core is scarce, that there are a variety of traffic- and non-traffic-related requirements upon that space, and that the citizens of dense urban cores have to work out how to allocate that space. In the present case an Op Ed writer appears to believe that more of Manhattan’s space needs to be set aside for moving people, at the expense of storing vehicles. Which seems OK to me…at some point the price of storing vehicles will rise (I assume NYC has private garages), and people who Already Have Alternative Vehicle Storage Possibilities will have to consider those possibilities. They appear to not have an answer which addresses all needs, and are discussing how the pain that everyone already experiences might be spread around.
I just think it’s odd that the writer is accusing New York of being liberal communists when it is proposing to do away with (or at least limit) a government run entity: public parking. A true right winger should be rejoicing at such a thought; let the free market run the parking system through supply and demand. As parking runs scarce, private companies will find a way to build parking garages, or parking decks below ground if necessary. In the eyes of a conservative, the government should be responsible only for basic infrastructure; in this case moving traffic in and out of the city, (which will not be solved in NYC until such measures are taken).
As parking runs scarce, private companies will find a way to build parking garages, or parking decks below ground if necessary.
Except government zoning regulations stop that from happening. If you compete against the government, you go to jail. Don’t believe me? Try to deliver a first class piece of mail. I dare you.
The anti-car mania is found in most major cities. The symptoms: unsynchronized traffic lights (deliberately set to make you stop at each intersection), bendy buses, bus lanes, speed bumps, absurdly low speed limits, stop signs where a yield would work, red light cameras, and an army of extra-fat meter maids that jump on minor violations like a Jumbo-size bag of Oreos.
The cure: if I told you the Thomas Jefferson-approved curative, I’d be put on the no-fly list for sure. So just move to the suburbs like everyone else.
If the truth were known probably 40% of the moving cars are looking for a parking spot.
“Four men ride out and only three ride back”
Because one of them actually found a parking spot.
“Get on your bikes and ride!”
http://www.electricrider.com/custom/index.htm
rtz, everytime I hear that Queen song you mentioned, all I can think of is Super Size Me. If you saw the movie in question, you’d know why.
The main issue is that the powers-that-be just don’t want you to own a car. Period.
Hence a lot of the anti-car hostility, all to make you throw up your hands and resign yourself to either taking public transit or an alternative form of personal transport that insures that you never stray more than a few miles from your place of residence.
The underlying issue here is “control”. Control the people by controlling how they move about. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to drive to the store to get some more Reynold’s Wrap.
I don’t think the issue is that they hate cars as much as it is that the streets of Manhattan are clogged with traffic. Since tunnels aren’t feasible with subways and steam/gas pipes running throughout, going cross-town is a nightmare because people are generally confined to streets with parking on either side. By freeing up some of that space, I think it’ll help traffic move in certain areas. Now all they have to do is quit with the stupid street cleaning rules that ban parking two days a week. The rules are so cynical; obviously only in place so that people who don’t move their cars can get parking tickets from the sanitation “police.”
Just hire giant PokeMons to just kick the parked cars out of the way; I hear that the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is looking for work, too!
(Can you tell that I love that photo?)
Give tax credits, toll discounts, etc. to smaller cars that take up less space, either while parked or in traffic.
I think one issue driving the commenters nuts is that our author seems to love criticizing any argument that the NYT makes.
I mean, he’s actually criticized raising the speed of traffic in New York City, for safety reasons. Have you been there in rush hour? You can easily outwalk a taxicab stuck in traffic from 5pm to 6pm.
Go read through the archives here about speed cameras and you’ll find it taken as an article of complete faith by our hosts that speed doesn’t kill. Now when the NYT is suggesting speeding up traffic, speed is suddenly dangerous?
I can still be suspicious of the NYT’s greater agenda (if we have too many parking spaces, the answer is to reduce parking spaces, not eliminate them altogether, while examining the effect this has on traffic) while still be suspicious of their critics.
At least you dont have to pay to drive into central New York like you do in London!