NYT: You Can Drive Into the City Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Park
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 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!