July 26, 2006--Summer Re-Blog I
Since I'm on the road and out of range of the NY Times or any other reasonably reliable source of news--how reliable can it be here in Casper, Wyoming where the Federal office building is named for Dick Cheney--I thought that like the TV networks that run summer reruns, I would post a few ReBlogs.
On Saturday I'll post part four of the story, "The Club," if any of you want to keep up with Lloyd and the Traubs. When I get back to NYC next week I'll have the Times and who knows.
Here then is Parking Wars:
In New York City, actually in Manhattan, so much revolves around parking. Street parking for you car. We have Alternate Side of the Street Parking rules that require moving cars from one side of the street to the other at least four times each week so the streets can be cleaned. Street parking is at such a premium (monthlies for garage parking can exceed $500) that some have even been known to hire car movers who will sit in their car all day while waiting for a space to open up.
But as with so much else in the Big Apple, parking is about a lot more than a space in a No-Tow Zone. It’s also about ethnic and religious identity.
Take Diwali, for example. For Hindus, Diwali is an annual festival of lights and the latest parking cause in the on-going Culture War. There are 33 holidays in New York when Alternate Side of the Street Parking rules are suspended, days when cars do not have to be moved. For holidays such as Yom Kippur, Christmas, Immaculate Conception, Asian Lunar New Year, Shemini Atzeret, and Id al-Fitr among others. Most of the world’s major religions and ethnic groups have a parking day of their own. But not Hindus. Therefore, the battle in the City over Diwali.
The City Council unanimously passed a law to include Dawali; but Mayor Bloomberg, in spite of being in the thick of a reelection campaign, has indicated he will veto it, risking the lose of the Hindu vote (though probably assuring at least 90 percent of the Staten Island vote). Not that he is anti-Hindu; it’s just that the streets have to be swept (we should be so lucky).
Hindu business leaders showed up at City Hall the other day to demand “respect and equal treatment.”
I say amen, or whatever.
On Saturday I'll post part four of the story, "The Club," if any of you want to keep up with Lloyd and the Traubs. When I get back to NYC next week I'll have the Times and who knows.
Here then is Parking Wars:
In New York City, actually in Manhattan, so much revolves around parking. Street parking for you car. We have Alternate Side of the Street Parking rules that require moving cars from one side of the street to the other at least four times each week so the streets can be cleaned. Street parking is at such a premium (monthlies for garage parking can exceed $500) that some have even been known to hire car movers who will sit in their car all day while waiting for a space to open up.
But as with so much else in the Big Apple, parking is about a lot more than a space in a No-Tow Zone. It’s also about ethnic and religious identity.
Take Diwali, for example. For Hindus, Diwali is an annual festival of lights and the latest parking cause in the on-going Culture War. There are 33 holidays in New York when Alternate Side of the Street Parking rules are suspended, days when cars do not have to be moved. For holidays such as Yom Kippur, Christmas, Immaculate Conception, Asian Lunar New Year, Shemini Atzeret, and Id al-Fitr among others. Most of the world’s major religions and ethnic groups have a parking day of their own. But not Hindus. Therefore, the battle in the City over Diwali.
The City Council unanimously passed a law to include Dawali; but Mayor Bloomberg, in spite of being in the thick of a reelection campaign, has indicated he will veto it, risking the lose of the Hindu vote (though probably assuring at least 90 percent of the Staten Island vote). Not that he is anti-Hindu; it’s just that the streets have to be swept (we should be so lucky).
Hindu business leaders showed up at City Hall the other day to demand “respect and equal treatment.”
I say amen, or whatever.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
7:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home