Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Alternate-Side Parking Brings Peace

An ode to alternate side of the street parking from the New York Times Op-ed pages.
As European countries try to integrate immigrants from Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, they have found the transition from a homogeneous society to a multicultural one painful. The economic fallout from the euro zone debt crisis is likely to make assimilation even harder.
In its search for solutions, Europe would do well to look to the streets — of New York City. Seriously.
And what is this God-send?  Alternate side of the street parking, of course.

Over decades, the calendar has grown to include numerous holidays that are sacred to various religions. And we’re not just talking Passover and Good Friday, Yom Kippur and Christmas. There’s Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha for Muslims; the Solemnity of the Ascension, the Feast of the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception for Roman Catholics; and a raft of Jewish holidays from Shavuot and Succoth to Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah. The parking rules are also suspended on certain cultural holidays, like the Asian Lunar New Year, Rosh Hashana [sic] and Diwali, the South Asian festival of lights.



I know that Jews cannot drive on their religious holidays and that public employees don't work on national and state holidays, but Diwali?  Id al-Fitr?  They have no similar work restrictions; the same for the Feast of the Assumption.  So, let's do it for Halloween, after all, the Great Pumpkin is acomin'.

Should have known it was written by a "political scientist."


Read the full Op-Ed Alternate-Side Parking Brings Peace.