NYC restores all alternate-side parking days

NEW YORK - New York City is striving for cleaner streets. The Sanitation Department is sending sweepers back out in full force and some drivers into a tizzy.

"It doesn't make sense for the people who live here and need places to park," one person told FOX 5 NY.

The city paused what some called a painful policy of two-day-a-week alternate-side parking for street sweeping at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. For more than two years, drivers only had to move their cars once a week. Now it's back to moving your car at least twice or risk getting hit with a $65 fine.

If you park along some blocks in Astoria, make sure to follow the signs and move your car four times a week.

Carissa Serralta said parking has become nearly impossible. The new mom, who lives on 37th Street, is now forced to compete for spots with the employees who park and then work on the same block as her at Kaufman Astoria Studios.

"I don't think it's necessary to sweep four times a week," she said. "It doesn't look dirty here."

The Sanitation Department said the restoration of alternate-side parking means cleaner streets. One mechanical broom can pick up about 1,500 pounds of garbage on a shift. 

"I've seen so many surveys where New Yorkers say cleanliness is one of the top quality of life issues," Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "It's time to get our city back."

Eddie Koza, who owns a car, said it is about time.

"I don't mind going back and forth," he said. "Cleaner streets for the city."

Alternate-side parking is suspended Sundays and major holidays.