Decade after decade, a certain subset of New Yorkers have taken part in the daily dance of the street sweeper.
Owning a car in the city with the largest public transportation system in the United States confounds some. But above all, it is no small feat in a city where prices for a monthly garage spot start above $400, and car ownership has risen since the pandemic.
That’s where alternate-side parking comes in. Though the arrangement — setting aside time for the city to clean each side of a street on alternating days — allows New Yorkers to park alongside the busy streets, it has its own quirks.
There was a time when the Sanitation Department pasted bright yellow stickers on the windows of vehicles whose drivers had failed to move them for alternate-side cleaning, a ritual that some drivers interpreted as a public shaming.
The enforcement of alternate-side parking has spurred countless arguments, fueled entrepreneurship and even served as a marker of deaths. An entire episode of “Seinfeld” centered on a dispute over a single parallel parking space. (In traditional “Seinfeld” fashion, there was no clear resolution.)
“What’s incredible about New Yorkers is the resilience,” said Lawrence Berezin, a retired lawyer who has advised New Yorkers since 2010 on how to avoid or beat parking tickets. “You set up an impossible task, and they do it.”
So we want to know: What is your New York parking story?
Do you and your neighbors catch up during your twice-weekly ritual? Do you hire your doorman, or a “car parker” in your neighborhood? Or are you the doorman or the person whom all your neighbors pay to move their cars? What are the agreed-upon, alternate-side parking rules on your street that might confound residents a few blocks over?
Your story doesn’t have to be about alternate-side parking in your neighborhood only. Are you a real estate agent who struggles to find spots when taking clients around? Are you paid to reserve parking spaces for others? Tell us your best anecdotes.
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
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