Category Archives: Editorial

When I became 16 and got my learners’ permit and first license, I wanted a car. In order to use one for summer work that meant Dad taking me around the high school parking lot one evening to learn to work a stick. The next day I took the 1973 Super Beetle convertible to my work. It was a great car. I think I messed up the gears a bit my first couple of days.

For college graduation I got an old Olds station wagon, that I later sold, after cracking the engine block (not my fault) for $400 then got a trashed VW Bug, pea green with rustoleum, for $1,500. It was sold to me by someone I trusted and was a two-speed manual with fuel injection. It was totaled on the street one day by a politician’s kid and I had to have it re-done and was advised never to take a hard left turn or I would blow up.

Then I bought my mother’s Honda Accord that I loved and was, unfortunately, eaten up by New York’s salt and sand policies for snow removal. I gave that to charity for the metal.

My first new car was a Jeep, an Army Jeep that I outfitted in the back for my dog. I had that for the ten years I had the rescue dog. Her Collie friend jumped in the back so she did as well. For five years I’d been lifting her in. Go figure. We sold that and it went to a military family nearby.

Our current vehicles are over ten years old. We take good care of them because they provide us transportation and fit the profile. My husband is tall and fits very few cars. He likes his sedan and I love my mid-sized SUV. Most models now will not fit his head space. I can fit anything but both our cars must fit him so we are constrained by said space.

Now, our cars have been taken from us and are only available through valet service for three weeks. Yes, I thought it was an April Fools’ Day joke as well. I want my car. I want my car because I own it and pay for parking and don’t want to have to plan trips for groceries, dog food, et al.

Our garage has been leaking calcium deposits for years and my paint is probably ruined. That’s what they’re finally fixing. Enough people complained about their new cars being ruined because of snow melt through the underground garage so they’re finally doing something. I moved to a space underneath a space that is protected. Why they did such a haphazard approach is a mystery to me.

We pay a lot to live here. They didn’t think anything through from the valet to movers and furniture company deliveries. Mostly, they didn’t think about us. We pay to live here. We need transportation. Keeping us from our cars for nearly a month is ridiculous. I will find another underground garage nearby and charge them for it. I want access to my car.

What if someone said they needed my computer for a month, or my frig or food processor? NO! But they took my car. My car is not a statement, or my life. It is transportation from A to B. With the shenanagans going on downstairs, getting my car anytime in the next three days is a crap shoot, and I even gave the Valet service dog treats to mollify the complainers.

That’s how it is. April Fools for some, not for us.