To repent: As a single parent I was jeopardizing my job status by trying to pick/up drop/off my daughter at daycare and trying to get to work by 9AM, which, at my company, was 1/2 hour late, using the subway. I was also skating on thin ice with my employer by leaving at 5PM on the dot to get to my daughter’s daycare by 6PM; after 6, I’d face $75 late fees. I tried to rely on mass transit, but, as we all know, “There is a subway directly behind this one” isn’t the case, especially if you’re subjected to the F line, like I am. So to protect my job status, I used the car.

When I use the car I consciously multi-task, like, picking up take out on the way home or shopping, errands, etc. Truth be told though, there are the leisurely times I’ve used the car; to register myself into the Emergency Room at LICH, to take my daughter to her sick visits with her pediatrician across-town, and, to pick-up Dr.’s prescriptions on the way back from said occasions. Oh, and the DOT managed to use these opportunities to give me a ticket — thought about leaving my toddler in the back-seat to tell them I’ll be right back, but that nice foreign couple got in a whole lot of trouble when they left their kid in the stroller outside the restaurant they were dining in. So I guess in retrospect, I deserved those tickets.

Though I can’t be sure, I don’t think having my kid barf on fellow commuters on her way to the Dr.’s office is what you mean by going green. Nor would taking a toddler with a 104 fever on the subway or make her walk, appropriate.

Hmmm, I think that’s about it, however, have a question: Does being green mean I have to toss in my non-judgmental, non-presumptuous hat, as well as forsake all common sense and sensibility?

In any event, I will refrain from posting future comments on RH as I don’t think our kind host RH deserves this … my sincerest apologies.

Your comment on my COMPACT SUV (which gets better gas mileage than most of the small cars I looked into) doesn’t really make sense to me. Please look at the photo again. Do you see all the junk in the cargo area? This is what I do for a living. Would you like me to haul that on my back? When you can think of a way to transport salvaged building materials, antique furniture and 2 large dogs on the subway, I’m all ears. Until then, unfortunately, I need an even larger vehicle.

Do cynthia and RE realize that driving a car in this city is to be strongly discouraged? Tickets and parking fees, which you may think onerous, are a fraction of the compensation that are required for the societal damage of driving a car.

But then, I didn’t expect the writer of this blog to display a SUV either.

From an non-car-owner with kid (just to forestall the inevitable response that you can’t manage with kids and without a car).

But what happened to the $45 tickets? Why is it always over $100 now? Never thought I’d say “The good ole days when Guiliani was Mayor….” No, I won’t say it. EVER!

solution?

I made an official looking permit with MS Word, laminated, and put in front of windshield. My “permit” was in large type, vague (a tip I picked up from all the legal documents I’ve come into contact with in the business world), something like, I had been granted permission to park-and-pick-up and that my vehicle will be moved w/in five minutes.

Not sure this works, but, sure felt like I had some kind of control over the whole thing. Phooey.