Upper West Side Residents Allowed to Double Park During Street Cleaning - DNAinfo.com

Upper West Side Residents Allowed to Double Park During Street Cleaning November 15, 2010

Upper West Side Residents Enjoying Special Parking Rules

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER WEST SIDE — While most drivers are forced to sit in their cars or drive around in circles for hours during alternate side no-parking times, Sydney Johnson is free to return home while the street sweeper makes its rounds.

That's because Johnson, a teacher by trade, lives on the Upper West Side, where police allow residents to double park their cars illegally during street cleaning regulation times without the fear of ticketing.

Police and local leaders describe the unofficial arrangement, which is common throughout the outer boroughs but rarer in Manhattan, as a courtesy to residents that has gone on as long as anyone can remember.

"That’s how it's always been," said City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side and has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years.

"I thought it was the case everywhere," she added.

Under official Department of Transportation rules, "Double parking of passenger vehicles is illegal at all times, including Alternate Side Parking Regulation days, regardless of location, purpose or duration."

Violators can be slapped with $115 fines — nearly twice as much as if they hadn't bothering moving their cars for street cleaning below 96th Street in the first place.

But in large sections of the Upper West Side, drivers are routinely permitted to double park their cars on the opposite side of the street as it's being cleaned. Many leave notes on their dashboards with their telephone numbers in case the owners of the boxed-in cars want to leave.

Drivers can then go home to their families, jobs, or run errands, as long as they return an hour and a half later to re-park their cars on the newly cleaned side of the street.

"It's amazing," Johnson said. "It's a perfect system."

Psychologist Bob Strauss, who has lived on his Upper West Side block for nearly six years, agreed.

"It would be very unfair if you couldn't double park. Where would you go?" he asked, confused. "You'd have to drive around the neighborhood for a long time."

But not everyone approves of the special treatment.

"It's not fair at all," said George Rodriguez, 40, who frequently parks on the Upper East Side, where double-parking laws are strictly enforced.

Rodriguez, a retired police officer who was born and raised in Washington Heights, said the rules should be the same for everybody.

"It should be the same. It's one city," Rodriguez said after finally finding a parking spot on the Upper East Side after circling for an hour.

Double parking is permitted on certain residential and one-way blocks in Washington Heights, sources said.

Upper Manhattan City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who has introduced legislation that would allow all residents to legally park on the restricted side of the street once the street sweeper has passed by, agreed.


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