"WTF," Indeed!

Today, on South 3rd Street, when the driver of this tractor trailer got out of his cab to walk into Wylde, I heard one of the several drivers waiting to proceed south shout, "What the fuck!"

The driver had gone into Wylde to try to get someone to move the car parked next to the cafe out of his way. The car was soon moved (not easily done), the truck driver backed up and then utilized the new space to successfully remove his big rig from the alley they call Partition Street.  VERY SLOWLY!  Two people, myself included, stopped traffic to allow the very capable driver to continue on his way.

Chances are that the truck driver had just 
made a delivery at Talbott & Arding

The driver could not have made the turn
without utilizing this space

No trees or pedestrians were damaged or 
knocked over.  This time.

Just 10 minutes later

It took the driver exactly ten minutes to make the turn.  He arrived perpendicular to 3rd Street at 12:46 and was fully on 3rd at 12:56.  About 4 minutes into the ordeal, a DPW employee in a white pickup truck arrived behind the rig, then gave up after a minute and backed up the way he had come.

On Monday morning, one block further east on Partition Alley/Street at West Court Street, where the parking rules continue to be non-existent or ambiguous and unenforced (alley rules or street rules?), there was a similar WTF issue with a big truck, though not quite as long.  This time, the DPW garbage truck had to stop and wait for at least 5 minutes before someone finally moved their legally parked car out of the way.  The driver of the garbage truck, after honking his horn repeatedly, also got out of his cab to get the car owner's attention.  A neighbor, having heard the commotion, came out of the house on the southwest corner and said, "Yeah, this happens all the time," pointing at his neighbor's car across the alley/street.  His car, along with one other, was legally parked alongside his house on Partition, too, but for some reason he wasn't expected to move it out of the way.  What a shitshow. 

We're paying three employees to wait 5 minutes because the city allows vehicles to park opposite one another on Partition and in other narrow roadways known as alleys?  And this happens occasionally, perhaps "all the time"?  (The city code is unambiguous about parking in alleys:  IT IS NOT ALLOWED!)

"All the time"?  What the hell?  Does Robert Perry know, or even care to know, that this may be happening all the time or even occasionally?  Has his garbage truck driver ever notified him of the blockage problem(s) he encounters on Partition and elsewhere?  How about the Fire Department?  How about Greenport Rescue?  How about Mishanda Franklin?  How about "Mayor" Kamal Johnson?  Do any of them know or care to know?  

Why would they?