(Speechless)

September 30, 2008 by missheather
Filed under: Crazy People, Greenpoint Magic

Ever had one of those moments when you see something and all you can do is stand there staring at it like a slack-jawed idiot? I had one such moment today on Meserole Avenue.

I know the city is trying to cut costs and everything, but wouldn’t simply painting the curb yellow have been a quicker (and less hideous) option? In all seriousness. I wonder which costs more: the $115.00 ticket for parking in this space or the ticket for admonishing someone (via the use of spray paint) of the $115.00 fine for parking in this space? Don’t everyone speak up at once.

Miss Heather

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Comments

8 Comments on (Speechless)

amandabee on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 4:01 pm

I really like the idea that someone’s aging parent is coming to town in a car and has bad luck with parking tickets to begin with so a dutiful child who tried to explain six times that she shouldn’t park right in front of the house because it is a bus stop finally just got exasperated and went out with a can of spraypaint. Is what i like to think.

missheather on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 4:27 pm

You bring up a very salient point: I would LOVE to know what led up to this. Somehow I cannot shake the suspicion that threats of physical violence were involved.

capntransit on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 8:37 pm

Maybe it’s from a bus rider who got sick of having to walk out into the middle of the street?

d on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 9:30 pm

I bet it’s someone who has been burned, like my friend who parked in what looked like a completely legal zone, only to get her car towed down to the Navy Yards. I took her down there and we stood in line for over an hour so she could pay something like $250 to get her car back. We took photos of the curb and surroundings (this was on Lorimer) to show that there was absolutely no indication that it was supposed to be no parking.

brooklyn11211 on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 11:09 pm

Like d says. Look at the picture, no way you can see the parking sign at the left, hidden in all that foliage. You’re probably lucky if you only get $115 – that’s a towing offense.

Like any well executed graphic design, its effective in getting its message across.

vintagejames on Wed, 1st Oct 2008 8:18 am

Painting streets, curbs and sidewalks is also a violation and can win the painter a ticket.

bitchcakes on Wed, 1st Oct 2008 10:13 am

(I also photographed this last night!) I am very familiar with this intersection, and offer a theory:

There are accidents at that corner all the time. (And for as many collisions as there are, there are 10 times as many close calls).

It’s because the cars traveling north on Eckford have a stop sign, but the traffic headed west on Meserole does not. And the west traffic speeds past that intersection to make the light at Manhattan Ave. (What I wanted to do was write to the city asking them to put a speed bump on Meserole @ Eckford to force the west bound traffic to go slower.)

Having been a driver at that intersection myself, I can tell you that it’s terrifying – when you’re at the stop on the Eckford side and are slowly inching out, you cannot see if anyone is traveling up Meserole – mostly because of cars that were parked at that spray painted off spot.

My guess is the city will put in a “No parking from here to corner” sign. At least that’s what I hope.

bitchcakes on Wed, 1st Oct 2008 6:47 pm

Upon further examination tonight, there ARE red “no standing anytime” signs up. But as of last week, you could park there legally. My guess is those red signs went up this week – much to the surprise of the block. I’ll bet someone got ticketed, then realized these new signs and wanted to warn everyone else.

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