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A Round and a Roundy: The Gods Have Spoken: ‘Pay for Parking’

Even the Parking Gods know that free curbside car storage is not sustainable.
A Round and a Roundy: The Gods Have Spoken: ‘Pay for Parking’
Cartoon: Bill Roundy

City & State NY is hosting a full day New York in Transit summit on Jan. 30 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. This summit will bring together experts to assess the current state of New York’s transportation systems, break down recent legislative actions, and look towards the future of all things coming and going in New York. Join Keynote Speaker Polly Trottenberg, commissioner of the NYC Department of Transportation, along with agency leaders, elected officials, and advocates. Use the code STREETSBLOG for a 25-percent discount when you RSVP here!

Free parking is a psychosis. Urban residents who don’t really even need cars end up buying them anyway, emboldened by the subsidized free space the city gives them at the curb. And then, when the city changes — Fresh Direct trucks! Same-day deliveries! Bike lanes! Garbage bags filling the sidewalks! — those car owners refuse to give up the public space they’ve commandeered for free so that our streets remain safe and livable.

Cartoonist Bill Roundy has had enough of the hypocrisy. In today’s toon, he shows that even the Parking Gods are smart enough to realize that unfettered free parking is not sustainable. Yet car drivers are willing to sacrifice anything to hold onto their entitlement.

It’s a hot take you’ll see only in Streetsblog.

Bill Roundy’s weekly cartoons are archived here.

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