A phenomenon can be observed in Manhattan: every day, as if pulled on a string, all the cars parked in certain streets drive out of the parking space at the same time, stop in the middle of the lane and drive back in after a few seconds. The drivers remain seated afterwards; they read, sleep, eat, smoke or talk – for exactly 90 minutes. Then they get out and leave their cars in the parking spaces.
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The background to this strange choreography is the lack of parking spaces in Manhattan. A space in a large garage can easily cost $ 1,000 a month, and if you want to buy it it can be a million dollars on the bill – four times the average price of a house in the US. The only alternative for many car owners is street parking. You can park on them for free – only twice a week for 90 minutes not. Because the street sweeper is arriving, the parking lot has to be cleared for an hour and a half.
However, it is also accepted if you only park briefly and then wait in the car to make room for the sweeper again if necessary. This regulation leads to described scenes in which all car owners cast around at the same time. The New Yorkers call it park or car ballet.
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This creates both friendships and enmities.
For example, there are circles of car owners – you could call them parquet ballet dancers – who have known each other for years, exclusively from street parking. People like Oliver Saks and Rudi Scalia. “I’ve been doing this for six years now,” says Saks. His Mercedes is old, but the nurse is proud of the E-Class. “But in New York I can only afford either a car or a parking space, not both together.” He chats with Scalia, who has had his Toyota in the same place for weeks. “I don’t need the car that often, actually only on weekends for the family.” In his residential tower, the garage space costs more than $ 800. “I prefer to park on the street and sit here twice a week and work from my car. Or chat with Oli!”
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“Piss off my parking space!”
Saks says that this is how friendships can develop. “A few years ago there was always someone sitting here in a Ford that his wife gave a little cake every time. At some point he also had one for me and then every time. And then for a third.” The whole time the three men stood together and chatted about their families, sports and politics, Saks tells and his voice sounds almost enthusiastic. And then he becomes melancholy. “At some point he moved away, and the chatting was over. And the cakes.”
But when it comes to the dispute about the coveted places, the nerves are often on edge. As in this case: the road sweeper has just arrived and a Honda in its slipstream. The driver pushes herself into the parking space that a car has briefly cleared for the street sweepers. The driver grins at the other. “Piss off my parking space!” He yells, but she replies: “Is your name on it?” When he takes a picture of her license plate number, she takes out her phone and speaks into it: “I, black, has just been molested by a white man. Here are two other white people. And they are doing nothing to help me!” The bystanders look at each other puzzled.
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Weapons are sometimes drawn in the battle for parking spaces. And Lindsay Lohan’s brother was recently arrested for forging a police parking card. No wonder that even bizarre solutions are offered. For example, a service that picks up the car, parks it in the suburbs and delivers it again on request via a phone app, even washed and refueled if requested. Cost: Around $ 500 a month.
For the park ballet dancer Victor Hemsh, who parks the car for his daughter twice a week, no alternative. “Then”, says the pensioner, “I would miss all these interesting contacts”.
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