The Year in Parking

"...2008 may be one of the most tumultuous parking years since the early 1950s, when the city introduced alternate side of the street parking to get New Yorkers to move their cars in 1950 and then, in 1951, installed meters to collect some rent on its valuable street real estate.

So let's recap: First there was the whole fuss over the number of city employee parking permits. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced the city would cut city employee parking permits by 20 percent in January, which resulted in a lot of fuss.

Of course, two months later, in March, there was still confusion because no one could say how many permits were in circulation in the centralized system. It wasn't for another two more months until permits were cut by 20,000 in May."