Transit Strike Day #1:
Free Parking

December 20, 2005: 10:00 PM
R. D. Kushner

NEW YORK CITY - Street cleaning was suspended today. For many New Yorkers, like myself, that meant free parking. In New York City, parking decks charge $250 to $450 a month to keep your automobile off the street in an indoor garage. This fee is equal to, or even exceeds, the lease payment for many new cars; and so savvy New Yorkers have developed an alternate method for keeping their cars in their neighborhoods. It requires a little free time, a lot of patience, and some exceptional parallel parking skills, but it can save you over $5,000 per year.

Street cleaning rules are straightforward and predictable: cleaning throughout most of the city occurs during specific 90 minute intervals on Mondays and Thursdays, or Tuesdays and Fridays. So the challenge is to find a parking spot, so that you only have to move your car twice a week. I won’t get into the tricks of the trade, but I will mention that holidays offer a pleasant reprieve from the parking machinations necessary to avoid the bright orange $65 tickets that DOT employees use to decorate car windshields along quiet streetscapes.

The Department of Transportation observes 40 to 50 holidays every year, and on each of those days street cleaning is suspended [for a 2006 New York City, DOT, Alternate Side Parking Rules Suspension Calendar, click here]. A holiday is indeed a time to celebrate; no matter if it’s Diwali, the Asian New Year, or Shavuot. A holiday presents New Yorkers with an opportunity to leave their automobiles to slumber quietly against the curb and enjoy the pure pleasure of gratis parking; every holiday should be observed as a joyous free-parking hoopla.

The transit strike, although not predictable, offers an opportunity to take advantage of a holiday-type windfall. This is the, “season for giving,” and what better way to enjoy the holiday spirit than to indulge yourself in a gift, given [albeit reluctantly] from the local government of one of the most expensive cities in all the world! To take advantage of such exceptional circumstances, on Sunday evening, I moved my car to a Tuesday/Friday parking spot and fell asleep on Monday evening with sweet holiday dreams of a transit strike floating through my mind. This morning, I was rewarded for my efforts; and according to local estimates, this unplanned transit strike holiday, which provided free parking for thousands of New Yorkers, will only cost the city $400 Million. What a bargain! Finally! Tangible evidence that my city taxes are getting me something in return.

Aside from the joys of free parking, you really have to appreciate the transit strike from an organizational standpoint. I mean this is Democracy in action; we are witnessing the power of individuals to make an enormous impact by working together toward a common goal. People are talking about the TWU, “holding the city hostage,” but this is just one simple and jaded way of looking at the current situation; like calling corporate donations to political campaigns, “bribery,” instead of “lobbying.” You really have to look at things from more than one perspective.

If you think the union is, breaking the law, then you’re right. But don’t get all angry just yet. Take a deep breath and imagine what the world would be like if people simply pursued the status quo, and never struggled against the establishment in order to make better lives for themselves. One of America’s implicit virtues is “freedom,” and we like to talk about the “free press,” and the “free market” [and even “free parking”] as if these things actually exist, have existed for all of eternity, and shall exist in perpetuity. But these “freedoms” were earned, they were fought for, and they must be constantly and vigilantly contemplated and upheld, lest they become freedoms only by word and not by assignment.

“Freedom,” is a concept of human creation, and with it comes the responsibility to make willful and individual decisions and then accept the consequences. Sometimes laws have to be broken in order to rise above the pale of mediocrity and injustice. After all, New York City just finished honoring the life of the recently deceased, Rosa Parks; who broke the law for something much greater than simply a pay raise and a pension, but who broke the law none the less. Sometimes life appears to be a struggle; and sometimes individuals bond together as a group to struggle together. In this process, the “usual” order of things is disrupted, and the establishment rises up to crush the resistance. On occasion, the struggle will gain a foothold in society’s shared consciousness; and in these rare times, great things are accomplished by individual efforts.

Before we condemn the union as a selfish, careless, dastardly organization of hopeless, mean-spirited, uncaring people, we should think about how wonderful life is when human expressions exemplify freedom of action, freedom of thought, and freedom of will. When you want something, do you stop when you hear the first “no,” or when seemingly insurmountable barriers stand in your way? No! Of course not! You struggle to persevere in spite of the laws, the rules, and the societal structures which take form as both obstacles and advocates toward living a beautiful and free life. This week, as you walk the city, and see it in ways you never have before, don’t forget to stop to smell the roses; or, to treat yourself to a free parking holiday.