Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Driving and Parking in NYC

I went shopping today near avenue J and Coney Island. It is a very busy area and I was fortunate to find a parking spot only one block away from my intended stores. After returning from one store and leaving several bags in the car, I started walking towards my other destination. As I walked 2 steps away from my car, a driver pulled up and with hopeful eyes asked me if I was leaving. I said no, and he replied "Why not?" I smiled and kept walking. A few more steps and another car slowed down near me and the driver screamed out - "Are you leaving?"...I again said no. He asked again either from deafness or, more likely, still hoping to hear the answer he wanted to hear. I again said no. This driver also followed up his queries with a "why?" and I really felt like answering - "out of spite", but just smiled and kept walking.

 New Yorkers are crazy and sometimes in a very funny way.

The new city-wide, 25 miles/h speed limit is now in effect but all the lights are still set up to accommodate a faster speed; previously it was 30 but everyone drives near 35 if they actually want to reach their destination within reason.  I saw a cop car flashing his lights while double parked and everyone slowed down to 25 or under. This meant that every street light turned red by the time I reached it and what used to take me 5 minutes to drive now took over 10.

I would like to see city officials and the police follow the laws they impose on the rest of us. If they don't, then someone should sue the city for discrimination and failure to uphold the equal protection under the law clause in our constitution.

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