Sidewalk vigilantes

June 17, 2010 - 4:19 AM by

I love Israelis. I do. In fact, I am, sort of, Israeli, myself. I realize this when I’m away from Israel, and find myself getting a little too close to the person in front of me on the ATM line, or back home, when I tailgate a little too closely. I also point more with my finger than I used to, and probably don’t say ‘Excuse me,’ quite enough.

But one thing I don’t do is park on the sidewalk. Ever. Sure, if there’s a sign signaling sidewalk parking on some narrow little road which was never built for cars, and certainly not as a two-way street, then I will avail myself of some of the sidewalk. But only then. I just don’t get people who park on the sidewalk when there are many places available on the street. I know, they’re lazy. Yet how could they be so blatantly rude and dismissive of those who need the sidewalk?

And the woman standing next to her car...

Not surprisingly, this subject is coming up because I recently had occasion to call the police when a driver was blatantly parked on a local sidewalk, and standing next to her car. I’m not usually so….civic-minded, but it was a last straw situation. I was walking along, when I came upon this car and had to go into the street in order to get back to the sidewalk. And there was the driver, a young woman, standing next to her car. When I asked her to move, she said she’d be moving in a few minutes. I told her that wouldn’t help me at that particular moment. When I asked her why she couldn’t park across the street, she said, “Ooh, nu, lady, just leave me alone!”

At that point, I was seized with the need to see justice done. I took a picture of her car on the sidewalk, and then called the police, who, surprisingly, were completely respectful and took all the relevant information. I didn’t stay to see if they came or if she finally moved. But hey, I figure that maybe she won’t do it again.

Tags: , • Category: General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

Comments

One Comment on Sidewalk vigilantes

  1. David-Joe on Fri, Jun 18th 2010 4:42 AM

    2. That is not becoming Israeli. It is becoming boorish.

    When I have returned to spend time in Israel I do not suffer these quirks and let it be clearly known. People are shocked but respond positively.

    Its time that Israeli manners were permanently put away – although Israeli manners are still far better than that of New York City, not one of my favorite places.

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