Received this note last week from a reader:
I live on Grand Avenue at Lexington, and for the past nine months or so, I’ve been parking a car on the street. This has been a headache, of course, but certainly easier than a lot of other Brooklyn neighborhoods, despite the twice weekly street cleaning (why?!). One thing that makes it easier in the mornings for street cleaning: no one seems to mind, including the cops an metermaids, if you double park on the opposite side of the street for an hour and a half to avoid the street sweeper. Its very common to see a row of cars all double parked on Grand on any given morning. At 11:30, the owners park them again. I’ve seen ticketers ignore these cars while doling out tickets to street cleaning violators. Everyone seems okay with it, the neighbors and the cops.
But this morning I got a $115 ticket for being double parked! What gives? Any ideas about the arbitrariness of this system?
Since I’m at work most days, I had never heard of such a thing. Yet yesterday, when I stayed home in the morning nursing an ear infection (yes, apparently I am a 4-year-old), I noticed the same phenomenon on Waverly Ave!
Personally, I’d guess whoever ticketed said reader needed to fill a quota or was feeling particularly dickish that morning. Does anyone do this regularly, and if so, is there indeed an unspoken guarantee that you’ll avoid a ticket if you double park? Also, what if someone parked at the curb gets shut in? Perhaps the cop ticketed that day because someone was inconvenienced?
And as a side note, double-parking seem to be a major problem in the ‘hood. Just because you have your flashers on doesn’t make it OK to double park up and down Clinton Avenue all the damn time. Now and then, OK, you need to pull over to pick someone up. But if I had a dime for every SUV double-parked on Clinton with flashers on, I could have paid off my mortgage and then some. (This is a separate issue from avoiding street cleaning tickets, and occurs mostly on weekend afternoons.)
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40 Comments
When I had a car here, I’d leave a note with my phone number on the windshield of the car I’d parked in during streetcleaning– that way if they needed to get out, I could come and move my car out of the way.
It’s actually illegal to do that and you have been spared a ticket for a while… Consider yourself lucky that you had a string of good luck rather than complain about it.
Double parking is illegal – that’s why you got a ticket – not because a cop was being ‘dickish’ about it. Why is double parking different when it’s done on Waverly than on Clinton? There is less traffic on Waverly, but it’s all double parking and everyone should get a ticket for it. Especially people who double park in BIKE lanes – like many do on Dekalb ave. Once you open the door and say it’s OK to do it some places, everyone starts to do it everywhere.
As a born and bred New Yorker, even though double parking is illegal, it is just understood in many neighborhoods that it is ok for street cleaning. Usually, it’s in the very residential neighborhoods where you can double park for street cleaning and not get a ticket. I personally think that the influx of people coming into our neighborhood is what is changing some things. It’s only getting more congested over here and it will be just a matter of time. That really sucks. When that stadium goes up, Clinton Hill will not the same. Change happens but it sucks when you get a $115 ticket for it. Damn.
Double parking is not fun if you’re the unlucky car blocked in by the double parkers. There have been many instances when I’ve had to literally drive on the sidewalk to get out of my space! Double parking is illegal for a reason.
TD’s right. It was/is an unwritten given that it is okay to double park during street cleaning. However, if you do not leave a phone # you run the risk of someone asking for you to be ticketed for blocking them.
As for regular double parking, I see cops moving people on all the time on Clinton. They could give them tickets, but usually they just make them move. On a related note, dont you just hate double parkers sitting in their cars ignoring open spaces or even the hydrant space? If you’re waiting for a friend, why not pull into that spot so that traffic can flow?!!
Oh boy did you pick a good topic.
Yes, it is illegal to double park but also yes, in many neighborhoods(I have no idea who decides where it is o.k.), it is considered a courtesy to allow cars to double park on some blocks while street cleaning is in effect. I once asked a cop.
It should be yes or no for everyone not random.
I’ve been fighting unwarranted parking tickets for a while now. I’ve gotten tickets for doing absolutely nothing wrong but when it comes down to it…it’s their word (the peace officers)(yes, that’s what they’ve been called) against yours.
It all depends how much time and energy you want to spend fighting it.
Personally, I’d fight yours.
So sorry for your aggravation and ear infection!
Thanks to all for the feedback. And FYI, a reader received the ticket, not I.
double parking’s illegal and people should be ticketed. it slows down traffic i.e. the bus for those of us who don’t have cars.
I got a ticket for the same thing. It was an unwritten allowance for years, until that day. Don’t waste your time fighting it in court. You’ll never win, as I learned. The city is strict in its enforcement of doubleparking even during street cleaning hours.
One of my pet peeves, double parking, especially when a whole block is doing it !! I have even seen Triple parking during street cleaning on Hall st. by Mikes Coffee shop ! I would be SO Pissed to come out & see my car blocked in. Weather it’s an ” unwritten ” rule, it is against the law. Who knows when they have their quotas to fill…I have heard at the end of the month. I especally get anoyed when someone parking takes up two spots. I wish I could magically push their car forward. :=)
Great topic.
ditto td and shaun – i grew up on the UWS and it was the same deal there. however, what is very annoying is that if you’re just unloading your car, you are way more likely to get ticketed if you have your flashers on in front of a hydrant rather than double parked. i’ve gotten a ticket in that case, but never when i was double parked, back when i had a car.
I traffic cop told me that it’s legal to double park on one way streets, but not on two way streets.
yes, it is annoying that Clinton Ave. has so many double parkers but, as someone who lives on Clinton, it is often impossible to unload or load my car without putting on my flashers and double parking. There just doesn’t seem to be any way around it when parking seems to be such a premium on that particular street and there are no “unloading zones.”
Tough. Double-parking is illegal. Hopefully the cops will ticket all double-parkers.
Oh, puh-leez–what is wrong with you guys who think you should be able to block traffic and trap the cars of innocent, law-abiding, legally parked people on the other side of the street? I think double parked cars should be IMPOUNDED and towed to the Bronx, where you can wait for hours while some guy with a ciggie and a wife-beater debates whether to bother helping you rescue your fucking Volvo. Alternate-side is a huge pain in the ass for all of us, but this kinda shit just makes it worse. Get off your butt and move your car like everybody else, you whiner.
From the Park Slope Civic Council News, February 2006:
What are the rules for ticketing double-parked cars on alternateside
parking days?
Double-parking is always illegal and can be enforced at any time.
However, the NYPD has a long-standing practice of allowing vehicles
to double park on alternate-side days, except on blocks with
two-way traffic, bus routes, snow emergency routes, or where there
are schools, hospitals or similar institutions. Even though there may
be no active use of your street for access to a school (e.g, 14th Street
by PS107), the rationale is that such institutions should be accessible
at all times from all directions for emergency vehicles.
What can be done about cars double parked without contact information
on alternate-side days?
Posting address or contact information on the dashboard is a
considerate and common-sense gesture, but not a legal requirement.
Assemblymember Joan Millman passes out signs in Carroll Gardens
that can be posted on cars that have failed to provide contact information. They encourage the drivers to be more considerate,
and also provide a form that the drivers can use the next time they
double park. Millman, the PSCC, and the 78th Precinct are looking
into producing similar signs for Park Slope.
Note that if a motorist calls the police to complain about being
blocked in by a car, an agent cannot practice selective enforcement
but must write up the entire block of double-parked cars.
While I understand that the ticketing of double-parked cars during street cleaning is completely ay the discretion of the Traffic Enforcement people, I’ve done this on President Street in Park Slope (it is one way) twice a week (well, once a week now) for ten years and have NEVER EVER NOT EVEN ONCE received a ticket. Different demographic , I guess. I’m just sayin’…
Thanks, PS!
I have to say, I’m not feeling sympathetic. Double parking is illegal and it blocks the street. The cops could start with their own (check http://nyc.uncivilservants.org to see what I’m talking about) but for real people: curbside parking is not a right.
We do it over here on my block every day and there’s never been a ticket or a complaint. Everyone knows each other’s cars and we all look out for one another.
I’d literally be stunned if I ever got a ticket for double parking (ours is a wide one-way street, BTW).
$115 for 9 months of parking seems damn cheap. Count your blessings.
Yeah, you will never, ever, win in court fighting a double parking ticket.
I’m on Lexington and the cops will let it slide until exactly 11 am when the street cleaning rules end (9:30-11).
A minute after that they drive through and if a car is not moved, they will ticket at 11:01.
Pay it, move on.
We do it on Cambridge Place, a one-way, and nobody seems to get a ticket. I also did it for years on President or Carroll in Park Slope — no tickets. I always figured that if you need to get your car out on a street cleaning day you make sure to be one of the double parkers, and not the ones who get parked in. But last week somebody left a nasty note on my girlfriend’s car saying that “Everybody knows you are supposed to leave a not with your name and number when you’re double parking.” I’d never heard of it until then, and now on these comments too. Guess I better start leaving a note.
Umm, for all you rabid “double-parking is illegal” folks, where exactly do you suggest that these cars should go during street cleaning? While I wholeheartedly agree that random double-parking should be ticketed, allowing it during street cleaning is just one of those things that makes the city actually functional.
But I guess I should just drive around aimlessly for a couple of hours, spew some carbon monoxide into the ‘hood, and add to the traffic. Think about it, there is *nowhere* for hundreds of cars to park legally during street cleaning.
In my hood (Prospect Heights) the only time I’ve gotten a ticket is when I was too late moving my car back. And yes, getting your car blocked in is a drag, but it’s a lesson you only need to learn once before you making sure that you won’t need it during street cleaning.
For those work-at-homers near cambridge and/or grand — those 2 streets conveniently dovetail their hours –when it’s illegal from 9(ish?) to 11:00 on Gates, it’s legal on Cambridge. It becomes illegal on Cambridge from 11:30 to 1:00. I used to always double park (no ticket) and people still do, but I decided this was a simple way to get a little more exercise and avoid forgetting to move my car at 1:00 (when they’ll swoop down on you at 1:01!).
oops- make that parking discussion above GRAND and Cambridge, not Gates… sorry!
check your ticket. if it’s for before or after the street cleaning times, even one minute, then they ticketed you for not moving your car back in time.
db – If you have a problem finding a legal parking spot, either park in a garage, or sell it.
Why so angry, Barb? Geez…
I’m angry about double parkers because they selfishly cause other people inconvenience, delays, and compromised safety. Example from yesterday: Jackass double parks on Northbound Washington Ave right up to Dekalb. Any time light turns green and there’s a car wishing to make a left turn on Dekalb, it becomes the ONLY car that can make it through the light because double parker makes it impossible to go around him on the right. Traffic backs up all the way to Lafayette. Thanks!
um, jaywalking is illegal too, you know. don’t get all pissy cause someone is breaking a law by double parking, admit that your problem is that you’re being inconvenienced by the law breaking. how many of you anti double parking diatribers have illegally downloaded music on your computers. don’t throw stones g’dammit!
#31 If you can’t tell the difference between walking (a non-polluting activity that’s the basic right of all humans) and driving a 3000 hunk of steel and glass around (with all its deleterious effects), I’m afraid I can’t help you.
I think some people are confusing double-parking during street cleaning (which is legit on quiet residential streets, IMO) and double parking on a busy street at random times and just holding up traffic.
Those are two very different cases of double parking.
I live on Hall Street and cars double park during cleaning all the time. I’ve never heard of it being a problem for anyone, especially if you leave a note w/your phone no.
Gabe is right on. Let’s not conflate two separate issues. Double-parking generally speaking is infuriating. Double-parking for street cleaning is the only sane logistical solution.
Do you really think that the city would allow it if there were a better option? And yes Mike, I know, we should all park in a garage.
It just blows me away that people have an issue with this. It usually takes me about 15-20 minutes to find a parking space. Do you guys really want hundreds more cars driving around at night looking for spots? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
ok #32, if your problem is the environmental effects of cars, and that’s what’s driving the ‘you awful lawbreaker’ comments, then say that. let’s just stop all the ‘bad lawbreaker’ finger wagging, talking like our parents nonsense.
Why does the city need to clean streets Every week day ? Are they that dirty? And think of how much it costs for the sweepers salery & gas.
Make no mistake brew, street cleaning is primarily a money-making venture for the city.
Paying parking tickets is almost like a driving tax as far as city income is concerned.
double parking tickets can be easily fought just like every other ticket. look for misspellings, street misspellings, wrong dates, wrong street names/locations, wrong plate numbers, etc. if anything doesn’t check out then you win. there are usually errors if you look.
why do the nypd move in a ten car parade around nyc..is it just to relocate the group..they usually have all their sirens and lights on..
what are the nypd cars ding when they parade around manhattan in groups of ten with their lights and sirens on..is it just to relocate.
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