We can all agree that parallel parking is hard. But there’s bad parking and there’s bad parking, and we’ve seen a lot of the latter on the Upper West Side lately. David Marshall sent in these photos on Thursday from 89th street between Columbus and Amsterdam. “Hello, sir, your mini-Cooper has crushed my budding azaleas!”
Update: Daniel Pucca tells us he saw the car on Thursday night and it appeared to have damage to the driver’s side; there was also police tape nearby, so there may be more to the story. And another reader says she heard the parked car got hit and diverted into the plant bed. So, it appears our premise is officially blown..
Check out two other examples of questionable parking behavior on the Upper West Side here and here and one example of expert-level parking here.
That’s right by PS 166. I don’t understand why buildings put those planters and railings right up to the curb. Even people who don’t park on the sidewalk wind up hitting them, or someone parks there and then opens their car door right into it.
probably to keep dogs from digging and peeing
I saw someone cleaning the rocks at the base of these plants/trees because it gets saturated with the pee of a million dogs
They have been placed there all over the city for many, many years. It’s drivers who need to be careful.
My son’s preschool is across the street, and the assistant director said there had been an accident where another vehicle hit this parked car (she didn’t know exactly how it happened). So I think the owner of this car isn’t to blame for bad parking. Rather, a victim of bad luck!
The rails do NOT go right up to the curb. They are offset at least the entire width of the curb, and usually at least another 6 inches. the planters usually have one row of belgian block on the outside of the metal rail. so usually 9-12 inches separation. No normal car parking would hit it, its usually trucks that damage it. It IS amazing the number of cars that end up “parked” with one of the wheels completely on the sidewalk.
And its basically there to protect the trees, which would be continually damaged without that rail “warning”
An old man was driving that car and crashed into parked cars. He then backed up and crashed into more cars before a bystander reached into the car and put in park so he couldn’t hit anything else.
He may have blacked out coming out of the parking garage
The actual story…
An elderly man in a sedan pulled out of the garage at 600 Columbus, turned right onto 89th and hit the parked Mini, pushing it into the flower bed and into the curb. The man then backed up and reversed course back into the driveway where he backed into a low cement wall. Incredibly nobody was hurt!!!
That’s my grade school…
1961-1965