Open Thread Wednesday

Here we go again :)

If you read the NYC traffic rules literally, the suspension ONLY applies to the side of the street that has parking restricted on one day (all day) per week. I.e. the signs on the west side of that block of Hicks say “No Parking Wednesdays 8a-6p” which means during a suspension, you can park there on a Wednesday anyway. The law does NOT say that the east side (which says “Parking Permitted Wednesdays 8a-6p ONLY”) is affected at all by a suspension. So if you park on the east side at any time besides a Wednesday 8a-6pm — even during a suspension — you can get a ticket. Which is why they gave tickets today.

Now, this is TOTALLY irregularly enforced, They have not been giving tickets before, they gave one today — nothing actually changed in the law. And in non-COVID times, on a Wednesday that happened to be a parking holiday, sometimes the traffic cops would give out tickets to the west side, even though it was legal.

On top of that, there’s a difference of opinion of whether what the law says literally is at odds with what DOT actually intended when they layered on this special regime that you find in the Heights. The law is very clear these type of “Wednesday-only” rules are NOT “street cleaning rules” but they did a very poor job drafting the traffic rules to cover suspensions. The suspension rules are linked to the type of street sign, which works well for regular “alternate side parking” (the sign with the P with a broom through it) because the same type of sign appears on both sides of the street, but on a street like Hicks, the signs on either side of the street are different and the rules don’t take that into account.

Hmm… Well I see St. Charles Borromeo Church is taking down its scaffolding finally, so maybe that will shoo away some of the stoners who hang out on that block.

Alas, most of the differences are not between the places – i.e., Sahadi’s/Atlantic no longer has “bulk size” spices and DOES have some produce – but differences between Charlie-at-the-wheel and … ? his daughter.

There’s no operation that can’t see at least the CHANCE to become more profitable in the time-honored “higher prices or smaller portions” play, but the question is how far it can move toward an UES vibe (or margins that probably are comparable if you factor in rent per sq foot in the vicinity) before they stop seeing 20 numbers ahead of you on a Saturday. I’m not turning THAT fast, but I’ve seen this before – some modest tweaks & price increases, if they don’t decimate volume are followed by more frequent and more substantial ones.

The addition of that little produce is baffling, but they’ve got 70 years of retailing savvy, so who am I to judge?

So glad to see Han’s back open. My boy Bravo makes the best egg sandwiches in all of the land.

This map is the other puzzle piece
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90183eb24f88c142a5fea28ba4d31a324278e7b63251a6090e1f2e3491663fc0.jpg

Here in its entirety is Section 4-08(a)(7)(iii) of the New York City Traffic Rules and Regulations (emphasis added):

“Street cleaning rules suspended,” as follows:

(A) Street cleaning parking rules are suspended on the days listed in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph and on the following holidays: Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Ash Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Ascension Thursday, Feast of the Assumption, Feast of All Saints, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, first two days of Succoth, Shemini Atzereth, Simchas Torah, Shavuot, Purim, Orthodox Holy Thursday, Orthodox Good Friday, first two and last two days of Passover, Idul-Fitr, Idul-Adha, legal Asian Lunar New Year, on all state and national holidays, on the following additional legal holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, Lincoln’s Birthday, President’s Day, Columbus Day-observed, Election Day, and Veteran’s Day, and on such other days as announced by the Commissioner or his/her designee.

(B) For the purposes of this subparagraph (iii), street cleaning parking rules shall mean those rules (a) on posted signs, consisting of the letter “P” with a broom through it or (b) except as otherwise provided in item (D) of this subparagraph, on posted signs containing “No Parking” rules restricting parking on one day per week or on alternate days.

(C) “No Parking” street cleaning rules, located in parking meter zones, are suspended on the days on which street cleaning rules are suspended and on such other days as announced by the Commissioner or his/her designee. Suspension of street cleaning rules does not affect the requirement of activating the meter during the hours that such meter is in effect.

(D) Posted signs restricting parking for a period of six or more consecutive hours on one day per week or on alternate days are not street cleaning parking rules. However, such restrictions are suspended on the days that street cleaning rules are suspended.

Yep. Paragraph (D) is the problematic language. See the pics below — these are the signs on the two sides of Hicks Street:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/812fbe714cd7302e30ecf962501c5bbcee2e5eaddeddddf6541a4cf3a6cdaee7.jpg

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e3e85e4ff629d6cdd325ca4b2283436f3e52b34094aeba79352a0fec452544ad.jpg

I’d say the first sentence of (D) only applies to the sign on the left in the pictures, not the sign on the right. The sign on the right does NOT restrict parking “for a period of six or more consecutive hours on one day per week or on alternate days.” Maybe it “affects” parking, or “permits” parking one day per week…but it certainly does not “restrict” it. If the city wanted the suspension mentioned in the second sentence of (D) to apply to both sides of these streets at the same time, they should’ve just said so. Poor drafting.