Parking

Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is famous for its Italian food. Now, it's also notable as the only place with NYC's latest parking technology: sensors in the ground providing real-time data about parking availability, and a system that enables parkers to pay by phone. Mayor Bloomberg, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, and Frank Franz, manager of the Belmont Business Improvement District, launched the programs earlier this week. While the technologies could help advance curbside parking reforms, the pilot programs aren't being paired with new pricing or enforcement strategies that would reduce double-parking and cruising for spots.

This is it -- the final, epic showdown of Parking Madness. We started with 16 reader-submitted contenders for the title of America's Worst Parking Crater, and Milwaukee and Tulsa have emerged from three rounds of voting to face off in the championship.

Which city has the ugliest asphalt expanse? The deadest downtown? The most awful place to sit and eat lunch? Those are the questions you must ask yourself as we approach the finale of Parking Madness, our hunt for the worst parking crater in the U.S.

We're down to just four cities: Milwaukee, Dallas, Houston, and Tulsa. But only one can be the champion of Parking Madness, our hunt for the worst parking crater in an American downtown.

This is it: our last Parking Madness match-up before the Final Four. And it's going to be a good one.

So far, Texas is really dominating our Parking Madness tournament. The two Final Four spots awarded so far have gone to Lone Star heavyweights Dallas and Houston. We might have an all-Texas final.

NCAA basketball has nothing on the drama, the intrigue, the heartbreak of a competitive parking crater tournament. We're now into the "Elite Eight" round of Parking Madness, and today's winner will join Dallas in the Final Four. It's going to be a fierce competition between Louisville and Houston.

Okay, the preliminary stuff is over. It's round two of Parking Madness -- our hunt for the worst parking crater in an American downtown. By the end of this week, we'll be ready down to the Final Four. But first things first: Atlanta takes on Dallas in our first Elite Eight match-up.

Today we're getting a look at the last two contestants in Streetsblog's Parking Madness bracket, the tournament that will "crown" the worst parking crater in the U.S. But don't worry. Milwaukee, Tulsa, Dallas, Atlanta, Louisville, Cleveland, Houston, and today's winner still need to do battle to determine the final victor. The final first round match-up is Minneapolis versus Columbia, South Carolina.