Two quick notes: the new resident parking rules on the West Side of Providence and spitting in public. These two topics are not related. Not even obliquely.

First, the extension of the Resident Parking Program to the West Side of Providence. Thanks to petition initiative driven by residents and the West Broadway Neighborhood Association (WBNA), the city of Providence will begin a pilot in August which will allow up to two cars per household to park on the street overnight (read the programs FAQ’s here). Jeff Nickerson at Greater City: Providence was kind enough to publish a map of the initial boundaries of the program.

The district is a curious shape, so I overlaid the map provided by Jeff on top of “diversity” maps from the Providence Plan (read: racial majority breakdown by block, data from the 2000 US census). Of course, the parking overlays an area defined by a white majority.

Top:  Providence Plan maps + Resident Parking district.  Bottom: the result.  Cyan represents a block that has a white, non-hispanic majority.  See larger here and here.

The implication of this co-incidence is not that the city favors white people, nor do I mean to fan the flames of gentrification wars fought over this territory. It is important to point out that this is an example of how the middle-class majority is more capable when it comes to negotiating bureaucracy for its own gain. I don’t mean to be preachy-preachy, but this group should recognize their strengths in this arena and take-on initiatives that benefit other groups their own.

Secondly, spitting in public is disgusting. It is hard for me to tell if it has been on the rise in the past few years, or if the increase I’ve noticed coincides with our move to the Northeast where presumably, phlegm overwhelms the mouths of many citizens. Haulking a loogie onto a public sidewalk is an pastime that transcends race, class, age, and sex, it seems.

It strikes me that our public spaces are of such poor quality that people feel like they can literally SPIT on its surface. We find these places are not worthy of our respect because they hardly respect us. They are cheap, unfriendly, expendable, and outdoors. Since functions once performed in a civic place have moved into semi-private zones (shopping malls, for instance) that are largely indoors, perhaps we are rejecting outdoor urban environments as a viable place for public life. No one would dream of spitting on the carpet of a shopping mall.

Of course, I am making sweeping generalizations that aren’t even backed up by casual research…maybe in the future. Reader beware.