Is Curbside Parking an Endangered Species?

This is Street Wars, a weekly series on the battle for space on New York’s streets and sidewalks.

Nia Smith, a born-and-bred Brooklyn resident, has long Covid and drives just about everywhere, every day. Finding a spot to park is never easy. She has gotten up as early as 4 a.m. to move her car if it is double-parked, and there just aren’t as many spaces in her neighborhood, Bedford-Stuyvesant, as there used to be.

Elya Shavrova lives in Ditmas Park. She got a car because she was having back problems, and she spends quite a bit of time thinking about parking. “I will plan my week and my day around when I can use my car,” she said. “Thursdays and Fridays are like the worst days to find a parking spot. So I try to avoid driving on those days, if I can.”

Jake Dann-Soury of Murray Hill inherited a car-centric lifestyle from his father, who drove him around when he was a kid. He describes a familiar morning routine, moving his 2022 Kia Seltos out of the way of the street cleaner and then back. “Every block has their own dance,” he said.

New York City drivers, take note: If it seems like parking has turned into a nightmare, it is not your imagination.

“It has never been as intense as it is right at this moment,” said Henry Grabar, author of “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World,” “because the car ownership rate in New York City has never been as high as it is right now.”