Drivers Fume Over Parking Rules During Snowstorm

NEW YORK — Snow in April was already a dispiriting development, but some New Yorkers had more bad news on Monday: They had to move their cars.

Frustrated drivers flooded social media with complaints about New York City’s decision to retain parking rules on an unusually slushy spring day. The National Weather Service reported that 5.5 inches of snow fell in Central Park.

Posting photos of cars blanketed by snow, drivers questioned the city’s wisdom in deciding to keep alternate-side parking rules in effect, forcing car users to navigate slick roads.

“I’m sitting in my car right now like this because alternate side wasn’t suspended. Really?” Michael Morgenfruh fumed on Twitter, sharing a photo of his snow-filled windshield and tagging Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office.

The city’s 311 Twitter account was sympathetic. “I understand your concern,” it responded to drivers, suggesting their laments be directed to the city’s Transportation Department.

In New Jersey, the cities of Jersey City and Newark made a different call and suspended alternate-side parking rules on Monday.

Elected leaders in New York often face blowback for every snow-related decision, including whether to close the schools and the subways. (Public schools were already closed on Monday for spring recess; the subways were running normally, which is to say with delays.)

New York City’s loathed alternate-side parking rules allow workers to clean roadways without having parked cars in the way. The city sometimes suspends the rules on holidays or during storms.

The city’s transportation and sanitation departments “carefully consult weather reports” before and during snowstorms to determine whether to halt the rules, according to the city’s website. de Blasio’s office referred questions about Monday’s decision to the Sanitation Department.

Rather than focusing on any inconvenience for drivers, the decision hinged on whether the city needs “all hands on deck” during storms to fight the snowy conditions, said Vito Turso, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Sanitation.

“With a storm like today’s, we’re well equipped to do everything at once — clearing snow, collecting garbage and recycling and driving street sweepers — which means alternate side parking stays in effect,” Turso said in a statement.

Robert Bland, a history professor who lives in eastern Queens and dug his car out of the snow on Monday, said he wished the city had taken pity on drivers and suspended the parking rules.

“You see the snow coming,” Bland said, “and you hope they have a little mercy on your soul.”