Pedestrians Fighting Over the Scraps

12:00 PM EDT on May 17, 2007

The Brooklynian message boards are often the scene of fierce fighting over Brownstone Brooklyn's crowded sidewalk space. While Park Slope's legion of double-wide stroller-pushing moms and sidewalk-riding cyclists tend to generate the most ire, yesterday a new target emerged: Guys playing cards on the sidewalk.

Thankfully, these sidewalk fights seem to take place more in cyberspace than out on the street. Still, it always amazes me a little bit to see pedestrians, stroller-pushers, cyclists and card players arguing over scraps of sidewalk while a few feet away automobiles frolic across vast expanses of asphalt and lounge all day in free curbside parking spaces.

It doesn't occur to a lot of New Yorkers that it's the cars that are hogging so much of our public space and that streets and sidewalks can be more than just a means to get somewhere else, they can actually be "places" in and of themselves.

Fortunately, another reclamation of curbside parking space is on the way. September 21 has been set as the date for International Park(ing) Day 2007.

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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