Welcome, All, the Days of Forgiveness to Car Owners

The Day September 18, 2012, 8:56 am

By CLYDE HABERMAN

Monday was the first day of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and for observant Jews it ushered in a solemn 10-day period of reflection and repentance. For some of them and for others of different religions, it also ushered in a longer period of gratification and joy. These are New Yorkers, nonbelievers included, who share a bond that transcends faith.

The Day

Clyde Haberman offers his take on the news.

You know them as car owners.

Across the next month and a half, they will revel in long stretches when they can leave apprehensions behind, go to bed witho ut doubt or fear, perhaps sleep later than usual. That's because they will know they may park lawfully on both sides of the street. In few other spheres of New York life do the spiritual and the temporal meld in such perfect harmony.

Of course, as with most things, there is a price to pay. For them and for the rest of us, streets will be dirtier. We're entering a phase when cleanliness definitely runs a distant second to godliness.

Yes, once again it is the time of year with a dense concentration of days when alternate-side street-cleaning regulations are suspended, mostly to satisfy the desires of one religious group or another. In a 46-day run that began on Monday and extends through Nov. 1, alternate-side rules will be abandoned nearly one-fourth of the time - 11 days altogether.

All three Abrahamic faiths are taken care of, be it for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simhat Torah, Shemini Atzeret, Id al-Adha or All Sain ts' Day. For extra measure, Columbus Day is tossed into the mix, though this year it coincides on Oct. 8 with Shemini Atzeret, which is a Jewish holiday. Otherwise, there would have been a 12th day with no regular street cleaning during this period.

Not surprisingly, the Sanitation Department doesn't think much of so many detours from the normal. A senior department official, Bernard J. Sullivan, cautioned against them at a City Council hearing. Several years ago, Mr. Sullivan told me that with so many holidays bunched together, “it's a little tough for us to catch up, because on those days we don't get curb accessibility.”

Warnings like his have mostly amounted to shouting down an empty well. Few exercises delight New York lawmakers more than adding days when they can cast aside alternate-side regulations as supposedly a sign of respect for one important constituency or another.

What a town this is. How does an ethnic or religious group know it has truly arrived? When we keep the streets dirty in its honor.

Time was when the rules were set aside primarily for major national holidays and for Jewish holy days. The special provision for Jews acknowledged their large number here, but, more important, the fact that the observant among them were forbidden by religious law to perform many routine functions on those days. Moving their cars across the street was out of the question.

But in the zero-sum game that New York politics often is, nothing may be done for one group without others demanding for their own, too. Each immigration wave has produced new appeals for exemptions from the parking rules, even when no proscription against driving is at stake comparable to that for Jews. So now we have 34 holidays spread across 40 or more days when the regulations are waived. The list has been expanded bit by bit to include Muslim festivals, the Asian Lunar New Year, Ash Wednesday, Purim, the Feast of the Immaculate Co nception and Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

“It's high time for us,” a prominent Hindu businessman said with great satisfaction when Diwali, celebrated this year on Nov. 13, won its alternate-side stripes.

At least this urge to purge the regulations seems to have subsided in the Council. Diwali was the last holiday to be recognized, seven years ago. Still, new suggestions pop up with fair regularity. Though thus far to no avail, some council members have proposed throwing in Flag Day, June 14, and the Buddha's birthday, which falls in May.

Before they push the matter any further, they might bear in mind a Buddhist saying: “Clean, clear, calm; these are characteristics of a noble person.”

These are also characteristics of a noble city, one where cars are removed from streets on a regular basis â€" you know, to keep things clean, clear and calm.