New York City’s parking wars are about to get a whole lot messier or, depending on your perspective, a whole lot cleaner.
A new draft environmental impact statement from the Department of Sanitation reveals that nearly 30,000 curbside parking spaces could disappear as the city rolls out its “Empire Bin” program, replacing mountains of black garbage bags with large, shared trash containers. By the time the program reaches every neighborhood in 2031 (with full implementation extending into 2032), roughly 66,000 Empire Bins will line city streets, turning thousands of curbside parking spots into miniature waste collection hubs.
For anyone who’s ever zigzagged around leaking trash bags on garbage day (or watched rats dart between them), the plan represents one of the biggest overhauls to New York’s sanitation system in generations. For drivers, though, it’s another blow in a city where finding street parking can already feel like winning the lottery…