Provincial

The building discussed in this New York Times article has been turned into a senior care home. The city decided to remove parking spaces from the front of the building so para transit can drop off and pick up residents. One long-term tenant feels that this is not fair and a violation of her (parking) rights.

The woman, Marcia Tepler, says in her lawsuit that the city’s Department of Transportation was wrong in putting in a 45-foot-long No Standing zone in front of her building at 333 West 86th Street, which is on the block between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.

“It sounds trite, but I’m suing because of the injustice of it all,” Ms. Tepler said on Thursday morning in her apartment, as she went through hundreds of pages of legal documents and documentation of what she calls a travesty of parking privilege. “People can spend hours trying to find a spot on this block and the city thinks it can just take away spots and make it even harder on us?”

Because one resident wants the right to park her car wherever she wants, whenever she wants, this no parking zone is wrong? Considering this no parking zone helps the rest of the residents of the building (including rent stabilized tenants and senior care) it benefits and serves more, not less. Unfortunately today the public good must take a backseat to individual rights, even if that means public street space for private use.

“It’s the quintessential New York story,” said Mr. Siegel, a former candidate for public advocate. “It’s a case about a passionate neighborhood activist and concerned New Yorker fighting city government over what she perceives is an injustice. Parking space in Manhattan is gold, it’s valuable property. People desire and sometimes fight or kill over it. Now, they’re suing for it.”