By Gary Martin
Gary B. Martin is an illustrator and animator who has lived on the Upper West Side for more than 30 years. His illustrations appear in the Rag on Sundays, chronicling life in the neighborhood, New York City, and the Universe. See them all here. For a broader range of Gary’s work, including animations and other motion graphics, please visit www.martoons.com
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In NYC, the snow doesn’t melt — it just takes over the parking spots.
You got this exactly right, Gary!
lol! Great 👍
Indeed – the snow reveals how little these cars are really used.
Street parking is somehow essential and taken up by cars driven less than once a week!
You can say the exact same thing about bikes, and the horse drawn cabs in Central Park.
Driving in these conditions is down, and this is not representative of normal conditions.
The urbanists will stop at nothing to spite car drivers.
The Long Island drivers will stop at nothing to keep their subsidized free parking spots.
I’ve been thinking the same thing. Just abandon them. Easy.
you get what you pay for
In NYC you get what you vote for.
Ain’t that the TRUTH!!!
Captured perfectly
Gives New Meaning to Alternate Side Parking
LOL! What are you doing leaving the house?
Good one. My car was buried for three weeks in 1979 storm.
Sad but true. Thanks for the chuckle
For just a minute I thought my window had a view of the Alps.
Upside: cleaner air.
Mamdani failing early, and yes this is 100% the job of the mayor and his fault.
Awwww boo hoo 🙂
Yes, it’s all Mamdani’s fault for not raising the melting point of water ice! He has that authority, you know.
Since he’s let us down, however, you could always volunteer to go outside and donate some hot air toward the snow mounds.
Exactly! Why doesn’t the mayor just *checks notes* fix the weather!! How dare he let the temperature stay below freezing this long
Can you identify the policy or tactical changes he’s made that caused this?
The Mamdani administration dropped the snowball by failing to recruit enough emergency shovelers for the recent winter storm that dropped nearly a foot of snow on the Big Apple, critics said.
As of Tuesday, 1,800 people were signed up for the temporary work this winter season, and a peak of 550 were out shoveling bus stops, crosswalks and other public areas since the Jan. 25-26 storm that continues to delay trash pickup and many other city services, a City Hall source said.
In comparison, 6,454 shovelers were recruited for the 2015-16 winter season – which saw nearly 33 inches fall on Central Park – and up to 3,500 shovelers simultaneously worked at peak times that winter.
It’s quite odd that anyone in 2026 might have balked at volunteering to shovel snow in 5°F conditions, isn’t it?
As I look out my window this morning I see that the huge snow pile that was taking up 2 parking spots across the steeet has disappeared. Hallelujah! Why did this take 2 weeks?
FWIW, I don’t park on the street. The lack of snow removal is still a problem for me.
They didn’t hire enough snow shovelers. They should have had an army shoveling out the busstops and fire hydrants. I saw no ads or SM posts telling people the city was looking for temp workers to shovel snow.
Given the sorts of Mayors we’ve had, I’m kind of glad they don’t have an army.
If Eric Adams was still the mayor or if Cuomo won instead, the same progressives defending Mamdani would be harshly critical of the snow and cold response.
With the subzero wind chill temperatures, and even “high” temperatures in the mid-20s, the snow/ice is not going to melt for quite some time. And add in that they are predicting at least one more snowstorm this season – possibly pretty soon – and that is jut going to cover the ice with more snow, making it even more treacherous., and adding more ice when THAT snow gets frozen. We may not see “cleared” streets and sidewalks until April or May. <<>>
Hahaha. (Looking at the rag from summer in Melbourne, Australia.) Gary, you nailed it! Again. Thanks for the laugh!
I have a feeling that the excavating may begin this week…
Same in DC!
Multiple food trucks that have been parking permanently, even before snow.
And though snow cleared, they’ve not moved.
Red popcorn truck on 72nd (in space for TJ delivery/unloading), Lulu’s in front of Raymour & Flanagan
That truck was abandoned illegally there for weeks in the summer claiming it was broken down and couldn’t move. But still could operate and sell popcorn. Funny that.
This is really good.
Maybe someone can make sense of the NYC DOT’s explanation for suspending alternate side of the street parking: “The New York City Department of Transportation announced that Alternate Side Parking Regulations will be suspended through Tuesday, 2/10 to facilitate snow removal. ” So they suspended it to facilitate snow removal, yet they did nothing to remove the snow and they could not remove it because of the cars in the way. They must think the public is just plain too dumb to question their ridiculous statements.
I think Stephen’s comment is correct that the suspension facilitates removing snow from travel lanes. But after that is done, which was done more than a week ago, the explanation for continuing the suspension is nonsense since the cars need to be moved so that the snow along the curb can be plowed and removed. But that is not happening. One gets the impression that the city administration does not know what to do, it just sends out false, robotic communications , and it is hoping that warmer weather will do what they should be doing.
There is not a whole lot that can be done, but I am sure if Cuomo or Adams was mayor, the left would raise a stink about the response.
I never understood how suspending ASP facilitates snow removal. So nobody has to move their car, so they have no motivation to shovel the snow, and somehow that helps remove snow? Makes no sense.
To facilitate snow removal on the travel lanes of the roadway.
That’s (sadly) hysterically funny!
Why are the Citibike ice tombs are not part of this story?
So you think it’s funny that wheelchairs, seniors, disabled, baby strollers, pregnant women, and children couldn’t maneuver safely? That’s because it’s communist Mamdani and not adept Democrat Bloomberg or Republican Giuliani?
Alternate Side has been suspended for so long, I forgot how to drive.
Alternate Side has been suspended for so long that the garbage underneath the snow is now considered “artifacts”.
Alternate Side has been suspended so long my compost can now be used for biofuel.
Alternate side has been suspended for so long my CVS receipts are done printing.
Alternate Side has been suspended for so long that I actually did learn Spanish before the Super Bowl.
So true! Makes me glad I don’t have a car.