Editorial
Cut Back On Alternate-Side Parking, Save Fuel

We have no statistics on this matter, but it seems fairly obvious that moving a car from one side of a street to the other at least four times a week (across and back twice) expends a substantial amount of gasoline. Multiply four times a week by number of cars moved to comply with alternate side of the street parking regulations in New York City and not only do you get a great many gallons of gasoline expended, you also get a substantial addition to the number of pollutants released into the atmosphere and inhaled by all of us as well as wear and tear on tires and moveable engine and drive train parts and brake discs, not to mention an ever-rising tide of frustration experienced by every New York City driver.

We agree that streets need to be at least swept, if not thoroughly cleaned, on a regular basis. Government, as we have said before in this space, has two main duties from which all else springs: protect the populace and maintain the public infrastructure. City streets are definitely a part of the public infrastructure and it is, therefore, New York City's duty to the inhabitants of this metropolis to keep them clean. A street-sweeping machine cannot sweep a curb if said curb is occupied by other vehicles, hence alternate side of the street parking regulations. Under normal circumstances, the logic is unassailable.

The present circumstances, with the price of everything, not just a gallon of gasoline, escalating almost hourly, or so it seems, can no longer be considered normal. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Those measures, however, cannot be exercised in such as way as to infringe on the well being of the populace. Obviously, a compromise is called for. We think we have one.

Under existing street-sweeping regulations, cars and other vehicles parked along a given street are to be moved from the north to the south or the east to the west, for example) so that street sweeping machines can get to the curb and sweep up the debris, most of which is discarded by humans. We feel it is possible to cut down on expenses and pollutants and maintain the same level of cleanliness now in vogue very simply, by eliminating one alternateside of-the-street parking period. If cars on a given street are moved from east to west twice a week, for example, cut back street sweeping by half- move the cars from west to east once a week.

Eliminating one alternate-side-of-thestreet parking period will cut expenditure of petroleum-based automotive fuels, pollutants, wear and tear on vehicles and street-sweeping equipment alike and aggravation on the part of those who engage in two extremely unamusing games of musical parking spaces in half, surely a most desirable accomplishment. For those who fear such a move will result in dirtier streets, we further suggest that the ambulatory street-sweeping force that consisted of an army of people with brooms pushing waste bins on wheels that was once a common sight on New York City streets be brought back. Some people who are now unemployed could be brought back into the work force and streets would be cleaned by non-polluting means.

We urge the Sanitation and Transportation Departments to consider cutting posted alternate side of the street parking hours and days in half for the reasons we specified here. We see only gain to the city and the environment arising from such a move. We also point out that nothing here requires to be written in stone. If for whatever reason this proposal proves unfeasible, procedures now in effect could be reinstituted. The time is right for such an experiment. At the very least, we see it as doing no harm, always a desired end.