Shame is one of society's most powerful motivators (except when you're a billionaire). Mayor Bloomberg knows this, and that's why he told reporters yesterday that he will veto legislation that bans those giant yellow sanitation stickers the Sanitation Department slaps on scofflaw vehicles. "Stickers are an enforcement tool that have shown that they keep our streets clean and if you take them away there's no reason to believe that we won't go back to the dirty streets that we had before," Bloomberg said. Indeed it's a shame that Errol Morris' documentary, The Thin Yellow, Sticky Line, wasn't given the Oscar nod this year. more ›

If you've ever squeezed into a freakishly tight parking spot, faced off with passive aggressive neighbors, or accumulated hundreds of dollars worth of tickets for parking two feet too close to a fire hydrant, than you understand how difficult it can be finding parking in the city. But the Department Of Transportation has begun testing new futuristic parking space sensors to try to cut down on all the cars circling for spaces. Could this end fights over "putting it in head first?" more ›

The City Council voted unanimously yesterday to do away with those despised shame stickers that city Sanitation enforcers slap on cars violating alternate-side street cleaning rules. The stickers were first introduced in the '80s and were inspired by a disgruntled property owner who got fed up with a car blocking his driveway and covered it with stickers. According to the Times, the Sanitation Commissioner noticed it, and soon the department's "scarlet letter stickers" were born. Sanitation insists they help keep the streets clear for the cleaning machines, but the City Council outlawed them anyway. more ›

New Yorkers are masters at fitting ten pounds of flour in a five pound bag, and here's the latest example of our ingenuous use of extremely limited space: A driver happens upon a coveted parking spot that's barely inches larger than his vehicle, and he MAKES IT WORK. That's just what we do. The tipster who sent us this video says, "I was leaving for work the other day and noticed a parked car that was boxed in tight. It was gone that night when I came home, but the cars in front and back were still there. Curious, I checked my security camera: more ›

Mayor Bloomberg is quite adept at verbal jujitsu when he needs to be—which has become quite clear in his bipolar responses to the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests. But he outdid himself today on his radio show: when he was asked about a bill that would ban hard-to-remove parking violation stickers, Bloomberg weaved into a metaphor which involved murdering your parents as he defended their continued usage. more ›

Is the video below—in which a disgruntled driver cuts down a parking meter with a chainsaw—real or fake? The internet isn't quite sure, but the video has blown up in the meantime. The uploader writes: "caught this on my iphone during a cab ride in brooklyn: a cop was giving these two guys a ticket because their van was parked by an expired parking meter and one of them got really mad and cut off the meter with a saw!!!" Watch below: more ›

Like the voices of Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, Manhattan's old coin-operated parking meters have been discarded for flashier, more efficient and soulless Multispace Muni-Meters. But what will the city do with the 51,000 meters they removed last month? Sell them! Expect to see plenty of old school NYC parking meters on a TV screen near you. more ›

People in New York City can get really upset if they think you've taken their parking spot. Earlier this year a 25-year-old Bronx woman was put into a coma over a spot and this afternoon a 62-year-old truck driver was slashed across the face while fighting for one. The incident took place on East 86th Street near Second Avenue around 4 p.m. and police tell us the driver was quickly taken to New York Hospital and is listed as being in stable condition. more ›

Fresh from being evacuated for Hurricane Irene, the residents of Battery Park City have another headache to deal with this weekend. As if having millions of eyes turned towards it in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the city has released its parking plans for the area and, well, if you were planning on driving in lower Manhattan this weekend (wait, really?) you probably want to reconsider that idea. more ›

A streetside used book seller with a beat-up '94 Civic has proudly kept the same Upper West Side parking space for, oh, about 11 years, and he's not moving anytime soon. Good thinking, guy! People in this city kill for a spot. more ›

Because technology today allows us to shoot laser beams in eyeballs, and keeps our kitties crapping into robots, New York City is in the process of installing 300 parking meters that will allow users to refill them with their cellphones. Sure, why not encourage more vehicles to pour into the city's already choked streets? If we've learned anything about the advancement of modern technology, it's that there's no profit in the cure, man. more ›

Last week, hours after his graduation, Bronx high school football star Isayah Muller was fatally stabbed by a parking lot attendent who was in a dispute with Muller's father Andre over a missing bottle of $200 cologne. Afterwards, to the dismay of the Muller family, police arrested the elder Muller, and not the two attendants involved, saying that he was "the agressor" in the incident. Newly released surveillance footage certainly doesn't do much to bolster Andre Muller's case. more ›

Not only does Manhattan have a glut of ghost apartments, it also has the most expensive parking in the country. And we aren't talking about bike parking (though probably that, too). A new report by Colliers International finds that New York's two central business districts are far more expensive to park in than their closest rival, Boston. Uh, huzzah? more ›

Cruel mistress Lovely Rita Meter Maid is preparing to drive her poison-tipped pumps down on the necks of drivers outside of Manhattan, as the DOT is proposing to raise meter rates for the second time in two years, by 25 cents to raise the total of $1.00 an hour. Their budget is on the hurt and the agency needs cash, but pols aren't happy. Queens councilwoman Karen Koslowitz tells the Daily News that the rate increase is "unconscionable," and Bronx councilman James Vacca is vowing to "negotiate the rate hike out of the DOT's budget plan," which is what they did last January. Maybe it would just be easier to secede? more ›

"If the world does end tomorrow alternate side parking will be suspended. Although I think alternate side parking will take on a whole different meaning, actually," the mayor said today. more ›

With Posadagate (or "Operation Pout Down") slowly shifting into the background after a messy weekend in the Bronx, the Yankees can finally start to get back to normal...or not: the News reports that the rift between Posada and manager Joe Girardi has existed for years, and the two clashed repeatedly during the 2005 season, when Girardi was a bench coach heavily involved with catchers' meetings and scouting reports: "Jorge would deviate from those plans all the time during games, which drove Joe nuts. Joe would call him out on it all the time, which drove Jorge mental," a source told them. more ›

The popular weekend market Brooklyn Flea has not exactly endeared itself to all of Fort Greene's residents. Now, even though it only operates in the neighborhood on Saturdays (it's in Williamsburg on Sundays), some car owners are upset yet again with the bustling antique, clothes and food activity, because Flea has asked the city to reserve a loading zone for them...and that would take away precious free parking spaces! more ›

In a move that will drastically decrease the rate of success for the Bridge and Tunnel traps, Community Board 3 is considering expanding parking restrictions in the Lower East Side to cut back on noise and late-night traffic, the Post reports. The ordinance would "prohibit parking between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights," from Orchard Street to Essex Street, bounded by Broome Street up to East Houston. more ›

The flagrant misuse of parking placards has been an issue for quite some time and despite efforts from City Hall to cut down the number of placards out there and up enforcement, a new Transportation Alternatives study [PDF] shows it is still a huge problem. In their check of five dense areas of the city 57 percent of the permits they saw being used were either legal permits used illegally or just illegitimate permits. We wish we were surprised. more ›

For years, the city and state have vowed to crackdown on parking placard abuse by lawmakers, police, and other state officials. But despite their best efforts, officials keep getting caught misusing the parking permits, adding to a sense of imbalance between haves and have-nots. But after a new state probe earlier this week which condemned the widespread misuse, the Cuomo administration announced yesterday that new limits will be placed on the placards, and nearly 1,500 state officials will lose theirs. "They may have to circle the block [like everyone else]," said Howard Glaser, Cuomo's state operations director. more ›

At the end of February, a petite 25-year-old Bronx woman named Lana Rosa had an altercation with Queens electrician Oscar Fuller over a coveted parking spot on East 14th Street. Rosa had been standing in the space to hold it for her boyfriend when Fuller tried to park there. A heated argument ensued, ending when Fuller allegedly punched Rosa and she fell backward, hitting her head and going into a coma. Over a month later, she has finally regained consciousness. But she's not out of the woods yet. more ›

According to a new state probe, police parking placards have been widely and frequently misused by lawmakers and other state officials. What a shocking and frustrating development! It's amazing that nothing whatsoever has been written about this subject in the last three years! more ›

Anyone who pays attention to the parking trends in the city may have noticed something different recently (or not). According to the Daily News, more New Yorkers are backing up into parking spots instead of pulling in nose first. "As one who backs in, I do notice the other cars that do so and I would say that about 20% of parkers back in," said Robert Sinclair of AAA New York. In fact, both AAA and the Army teach drivers to back into spots so you "can leave a parking spot at a moments notice." Though why anyone would willingly leave a perfectly good parking spot in the city is beyond us. more ›

Yesterday, we heard the grisly story of parking space rage gone too far: petite Bronx woman Lana Rosas ended up in a coma after a vicious confrontation with electrician Oscar Fuller over a parking spot. Rosas was holding the space on East 14th Street for her boyfriend, and refused to let Fuller park his van; the argument escalated, and Fuller punched Rosas "in the face with so much force that the woman flew off her feet," according to court papers. But in court yesterday, Fuller's lawyer argued that he was just acting in self-defense: "There is nothing to suggest my client intended to inflict serious injury. At most, the charge should be misdemeanor assault." more ›

A Bronx woman who was standing in a parking space on East 14th Street in order to save the spot for her boyfriend is now in a coma after an argument over parking turned violent. Police tell the Post electrician Oscar Fuller became unhinged last Friday night around 11:40 p.m. when Lana Rosas, a petite 25-year-old, refused to let him park his white minivan in the space. The argument escalated, and Fuller punched Rosas "in the face with so much force that the woman flew off her feet," according to court papers. Now she's got permanent brain damage. more ›