Having a car also gave me a way of doing kind things for those other actors who did not. I could drive people home at night, not at all bothered by crossing boroughs. It was a nice thing, knowing I could do something with so little effort, something which was always appreciated by actors who viewed a ride home as a rare treat.
Parking in the city was a game of strategy. Getting into the right neighborhood just before the signs changed. I took pride in my parallel parking skills, which are first rate. I also took pride in never paying for parking, except perhaps at a meter when it was absolutely unavoidable. It was knowledge those of us with cars accumulated over years and guarded carefully. If too many people found out all the secret places to park for free, then they would be even more scarce than they already were. However, they were. They existed. Parking in New York City could in fact be done for free.
Well, no more. Not well. Just no more. I was performing at Le Bernadin over the weekend, on the day the snow was due to arrive. Tough part of town to find a space, but I knew where I could get a spot not too far away. Or more accurately, I knew where I used to get a spot not far away. Not anymore. In the handful of years since I move to Los Angeles, everything has changed. All the signs have been re-written. The meters have been re-set. Parking has become a scam. A major source of income for the city, as well as for the vultures and sharks who prey on the people who drive their cars into Manhattan, hoping for the once possible. A free place to park.
Where the signs used to say no parking Monday through Friday from 8am to 6pm, they now say no parking any day any time at all. Where meters used to be in use until 7pm except on Sundays, they are now in use until 10pm, including on Sundays. What's more, the meter system itself has changed. Instead of putting coins in a meter, you now pay at a meter station in the middle of the block, and leave the receipt in your car window.
Sounds efficient? Think again. It's crooked. As in devised by crooks. It used to be that you could pull up at a meter and find there was still time on it. Or, you could pull away and leave time on it for someone else. Not anymore. Now, no matter how much time you have left, the city charges the next person as if from scratch. So, in essence, they are charging twice for the same space at the same time! Crooks, criminals, thieves.
Knowing it would be tough to find a space near Le Bernadin, I got into the area a full hour early and began snaking my way between 11th and 8th avenue, from 52nd to 81st street, before finding a space! It took me an hour and fifteen minutes, and I was now forced to take the subway back down so I would not be late.
The last time I rode a subway, the fare was $1.50, which I already viewed as outrageous. Imagine my surprise when I found that a single ride now costs $2.25! How is this possible? It took a hundred years to go from a nickel to a buck fifty, how can anyone explain the huge increase in just six years? When you think about the millions of people who ride the subway, a raise of a single cent will produce an enormous boost in revenue. Why then do they jump to such obscene percentages? Where the heck does all this money go?
The same can be said for the tolls. When I lived in Jersey, the Holland Tunnel cost four dollars. That was six years ago. Now it costs double that! Double! Not a dollar more. Not two dollars more. Double! This is just plain outrageous. It is not at all fair to struggling actors who do mot make the same salary as high powered business executives who continue to commute at the higher cost without feeling a thing. Struggling actors who have cars with which they can find work in Jersey and help out others who do not cannot say the same. We feel it. The higher tolls, the inflated fares, the crooked parking fees come out of our already meager income. Percentages work against us. More of our pay goes into the greedy hands of the corrupt city officials who decide to raise whatever fees to whatever heights they choose.
Do you know it costs eleven dollars to cross the Verazzano Narrows bridge? It's a spectacular bridge, for sure, but eleven dollars? You can see a movie in a theatre for less!
After my gig, I walked the thirty blocks back to my car. The snow had begun falling, and I was grateful the city looked so pretty. It took my mind off the crooks who are running it.
