Only in New Yawk

Isabella and her fellow-Brooklynite Asha, whose family was visiting in S.P. at the same time as Belly, met up at the playground at the bottom of the hill. Then Isabella helped Papa pull beets.

Here's an Only in New York story. Dance-Nik, you're gonna love this.

When PD and 5H and BB left Brooklyn last week, they had to leave their car parked somewhere. So The Great PD found a spot on Lafayette Street where he could park until they got back.

The Great 5H had to work this weekend, so she flew straight home from Stiletto City, while PD and BB came up here. So, yesterday, she called PD to ask him where he'd parked the car, and he told her: "Lafayette, between Vanderbilt and Clinton."

Half an hour later, she called again saying "Where again did you park the car? I can't find it on Lafayette."

PD thought about it and said, "no, that's exactly where I left it, in a zone where you don't have to move it until Monday."

"Well, it's a Monday zone, but the car isn't here."

5H spent more time walking around, looking for the car, but then had to go to work, plus it was already starting to snow.

The old Passat is not exactly the kind of car thieves are looking for, and it had been parked with a club on the steering wheel. It made no sense for it to have been stolen. So, from Saint Plotniko, PD called the 311 number which records all towed-away cars. The lady in Brooklyn looked and said they had no record of it, and that the car had probably been stolen.

"No way," said PD, "maybe you have the license plate wrong. Would you please check by make and model?"

She wouldn't do it, but finally relented, and five minutes later came back and said:

"Sir, this is your lucky day! We found it! It is parked in front of a fish fry place at 395 Myrtle."

"What? How did it get there?"

"We towed it over there."

"What!? Why did you tow it away? It was legally parked."

"Well, we needed the street."

"WHAT!!? You needed the street? Why did you need the street?"

"I really can't say, Sir. The notice says "Needed street. Towed vehicle to 395 Myrtle."

"But how was I supposed to know you did that? Did anyone try to contact me? Are you sure this is the correct car?"

"Yes sir, the license number is..." and she quoted the license plate number, only it was the wrong license plate number -- that is, they had entered one of the letters wrong. It was the right car, but officially had the wrong license plate number, which is why PD couldn't find it on the OTHER website where you can search for any infractions on your car -- but you search by license plate.

So they towed the car because they "needed the street," found a spot three blocks away and left it there, without notifying anybody, and then entered the plate incorrectly. Who knows how many more cars they did this to?

One more thing: PD google-mapped "395 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn" and found out the car was now parked in a two-hour meter zone that expired at 4pm last Wednesday.

The end of the story is not written yet, but this morning, as Plottie was dropping PD and Bellybone off at the airport, PD's phone rang and it was The Great FiveHead, telling him she has found the car, that it is indeed parked at 395 Myrtle, and has a pile of $45 parking tickets splashed all over the windshield, all for two-hour zone violations. There are probably 12 per day since Wednesday.

But at least it's there. They'll fight the tickets. As you know, it's easy to fight City Hall.

New York, New York. It's a helluva town.

The Bronx is up and the Battery's down

The people ride in a hole in the ground

New York, New York!