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The Five Minute Double Park
By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Oh. My. God. When Gothamist heard about City Councilman Vincent Gentile's plan to
allow five-minute double parking (as in, no tickets), we thought, "What the hell is the this city coming to?" New York City is practically built on the annoying and irritating institution that is double parking! Gentile thinks that the bill would help people who are just ducking into a store for an errand or people doubleparking in order to get a parking space, but what Gothamist wanted to know who the hell is monitoring the double parkee? And would people really go by a strict 5-minute rule? The social contract barely works as is! Even Mayor Bloomberg said, "I don't know that we want to have our police cars sitting there for five minutes with a stopwatch." The Post reports that Gentile says the mayor has a "lack of understanding of the reality of the streets of New York" and that "No one's asking traffic agents to stand still and watch the cars." But, dude, you're imposing this 5-minute rule - who's to say people will follow it? As New Yorkers, it's all about taking advantage and twisting the rules. Plus, the reality of the streets of New York is that they are way too filled with double parked cars and trucks. We can deal with the Haagen-Dasz truck being double parked outside the bodega, because that's our lifeblood, but other cars should circle the block!
Gothamist eagerly awaits drivers' angry perspectives.
Image from a Transportation Alternatives article about how cheap on-the-street parking causes double parking
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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