Street Films: Gridlock Sam on Govt Employee Parking Abuse

11:54 AM EDT on August 8, 2006

Gridlock Sam on Government Employee Parking Abuse
A Clarence Eckerson Street Film
Running time: 5:06, 13.80 MB, QuickTime

With the news emerging that State Court employees are blocking off a public street in Lower Manhattan to run their own, private valet parking service while illegal government employee parking costs New York City $46 million in potential annual revenues, Streetsblog thought this might be a good time to let former DOT Deputy Commissioner "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz, the Yoda of New York City parking policy, explain why it matters:

If we got rid of the government workers who are driving into Lower Manahttan, we could widen almost every sidewalk in Lower Manhattan. Right now so much space is just taken up by government workers who are encouraged to drive in. They get permits and they put them on their dashboard and they use up valuable space right in the heart of the financial district. The police department rarely writes a summons even if they are committing the most egregious violation, next to a hydrant, next to a bus stop, in a no standing zone.
And it's not just the downtown area. Adjacent to some of the public schools we allow teachers to park. Why we give them parking, I don't know. They say, 'It's hard to get to that school.' Well, it's probably hard for that butcher who has a little shop on that block to get there. And it's hard for the person at the dry cleaners to get there, but we don't give them parking spots. Why we give public employees parking spots is beyond me.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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