The Dream: NYPD Says It Will Tow Away Every Car South of Canal at 7 PM Tonight For Knicks Parade

Tow, NY, tow NY, tow!

The Knicks championship was always a dream, but city officials appear to be prolonging their REM sleep to keep the fantasy going: According to the NYPD, starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, towing crews will remove any car that is parked south of Canal Street — a one-day enforcement effort for the championship parade that many people hope will lead to more law and order against scofflaws.

Seriously, here is what it says on the mayor’s new nyc.gov/knicks website right now:

Of course, there’s a big “if.” It has long been true that the NYPD could restore order, tranquility and loading zones to Lower Manhattan if it was willing to tow away the thousands of illegally parked placard perps who steal public space from residents and business owners. (In other words, crack down on its own employees and other officials in law enforcement.)

Remember, of course, that Streetsblog once counted all the cars parked below Canal Street for the first-ever Placard Census. And we found that virtually all the illegally parked cars downtown — parked at hydrants, in loading zones, in bus lanes and no-standing zones — and placards (real and fake).

Those illegally parked cars delay buses, complicate legitimate deliveries, endanger cyclists and also reduce fees collected because the NYPD’s traffic enforcement agents generally do not ticket cars that have placards, even if the car is illegally parked or the placard improperly used.

The city’s greatest authority on illegal parking by placard perps is doubtful that the NYPD will tow away brother officers.

“It will be interesting to see if they really do tow the placard class for a change,” said the keeper of the @placardabuse Twitter feed, who has asked for anonymity because of prior threats by the NYPD. “It will be the first time some of those vehicles move in months. If they do really tow them all out, there might even be a little reduction in parking demand for a while as it takes time for the extra cars that don’t get used to eventually find their way into permanent storage on the streets of Lower Manhattan again.”

And an activist for better public space — reminder, the roads are all public space — says the parade preparations should remind New Yorkers of what they have ceded to car drivers.

“For a day, New Yorkers will experience how much space is available when we stop treating Lower Manhattan like a parking lot,” said Kathy Park Price of New Yorkers for Parks. “Every curb occupied by a stored vehicle is space that could support public life with bus and bike lanes, deliveries, greenery, trash containerization, outdoor dining, and parklets. This shouldn’t just be a parade-day exception — it should be part of a broader conversation about prioritizing people over parking.”

Ben Furnas of Transportation Alternatives agreed.

“Tomorrow, we’ll reach a goal we thought was still years in the making — a fully pedestrianized Financial District,” he said. “We thought things couldn’t get any better after a Knicks win, but all New Yorkers will be winning tomorrow when our streets are for champions and for people, not for the movement and storage of private vehicles.”

Cops installed security blocks, known as “sugar cubes,” throughout downtown on Wednesday afternoon, presumably as checkpoints. Here’s one on Broadway just south of Canal Street.

Streetsblog reached out to the NYPD for more information about its plans and, specifically, to determine if the placard élite will be subject to towing after 7 p.m. tonight, but the agency has not gotten back to us. (We will update this story if the agency responds.)

Streetsblog Summer Specialist Emily Smith is currently fanning across Lower Manhattan in search of information. So far, she’s been told by one enforcement agent that the towing will center on the area between West Broadway and Broadway, south of Franklin Street, and begin after 10 p.m. tonight.

Another agent told her that cars would be towed to “wherever there is space” by the “no parking overnight detail.” Car owners should call the First Precinct stationhouse on Ericcson Place to learn where the car was stored. The location will likely be west of West Broadway, the agent said.

It’s unclear if there will be any room to tow cars, given how placard criminals tend to take up all the curbside space in Lower Manhattan.

We will update this story when we hear more.