Double Park at your own risk on those Horrid Street Cleaning Days?

The double park myth

It is not legal to double park on the unrestricted side of the street on street cleaning days.

I can’t tell you how many telephone calls and E-mails we receive sharing a fractured fairy tale. It goes something like this, “It’s legal to double up on street cleaning days in my neighborhood. ” Or, “I was sitting in my car, double-parked on the unrestricted side of the street, waiting for the rule to change on street cleaning day, and a warrior walked up to me and handed me a parking ticket…How dare she!

How about this one, “double parking on street cleaning days is permitted in my neighborhood.” Well then, my bags are packed and I’m off to your neighborhood.!

The sleeping crocodile

If you walk past a sleeping crocodile 50 days in a row, is it safe to walk past the sleeping crock on the 51st day? Of course not. It’s safe to walk past the sleeping crock until the crock wakes up hungry and eats you for dinner.

My point is this. You can double on street cleaning days until a parking ticket warrior decides you can’t, and gives you a parking ticket. It is as simple as that. No warning, no notice, just a $115 wake-up call and reminder double parking is illegal on street cleaning days.

So why do it?

Street cleaning days are torture. They remind me of the humiliating second-grade practice of all boys and girls in class lining up to go to the bathroom, en mass. I remember standing in the hallway behind ten other guys, with five guys behind me waiting to go to the bathroom. Talk about losing control of your life.

Double parking across the street gives us a small measure of relief; as opposed to driving around and around until the rule changes. If you voluntarily choose to walk past a sleeping crocodile, do it with the understanding that someday the crock will bite you.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY ILLEGAL IN EVERY SINGLE NYC NEIGHBORHOOD TO DOUBLE PARK ON STREET CLEANING DAYS!  BEWARE THE SLEEPING CROCODILE