Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Cars

Parking Permit Abusers Being Cleared from Chinatown?

A Chinatown tipster sent along these remarkable pictures yesterday of what seems to be an effort to cut down on placarded vehicles clogging the neighborhood's streets:

There are white paper signs posted on lamp poles and parking meters that say "No Permit Area, Tow Away Zone." Lo and behold, there are hardly any cars with placards. The only way that this could have happened is for there to be an internal memo that was circulated as well. (Permit parkers would normally tear the sheets off and park anyway without a memo that they got already.) Please note that the pictures of Mott Street show a LOT of empty metered parking spaces at 11:30 am! That is amazing since those spaces are normally occupied by placard vehicles. This just goes to show that without placard cars in Chinatown there are many more parking spaces for the public and for business deliveries.

chinatown2.jpg

Of course, not every placarded parker was obeying the directive, as the second picture shows.

Anyone else see any signs like this in Chinatown or elsewhere?

Related:

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: Buenos Aires Will Challenge Everything You Think You Know About Buses

The Paris of South America has an amazing bus system — but it doesn't run like North American ones at all.

March 13, 2026

Friday’s Headlines Change How We Keep Score

The way the U.S. measures traffic death rates skews public perception toward the status quo.

March 13, 2026

Talking Headways Podcast: Buildings are Here to Help People

Jeremy Wells on his book, Managing the Magic of Old Places: Crafting Public Policies for People-Centered Historic Preservation.

March 12, 2026

Bus Companies Say There’s a Better Way to Take a ‘Great American Road Trip’ This Summer

"Our eventual goal is to make inter-city bus travel every American's first consideration when they think about how to get from one city to the next."

March 12, 2026

Opinion: Make This Summer’s World Cup A Car-Free Paradise

NYC has a major opportunity to support people who don't drive during the World Cup. Could other host cities do it, too?

March 12, 2026

Thursday’s Headlines Can’t Keep Up

While other developed nations are building more transit lines as their populations increase, the U.S. is not.

March 12, 2026
See all posts