My daughter cackles like Woody Woodpecker each time I drive past the stork parking spaces at Wal-Mart and suggest she get back into my tummy, so that we can snag the sweet spot.
It’s a great joke.
Kind of.
Maybe.
Ok, I’m not really joking. I really wish the kid could crawl under my shirt so I could pull into the first stall… but only during the winter months… and when I am in a hurry… and during the back-to-school sales and…
Who am I kidding?
I would love to bypass the jokers in the parking lot, who drive like maniacs, and flash the evil eye even when they see me pushing an overflowing cart with a kid strapped to my back.
Ironically, my small rural town didn’t offer preferential parking spaces for expectant mothers when I was pregnant, and while it is tempting (especially when it is 20 below out) I don’t plan to procreate just so I park two feet from Wal-Mart’s front door.
However, in New York it’s another story.
Women in Brooklyn are mating like mad so they can get pregnant and park for free in some of the city’s sweetest spots.
Now I’m really joking.
Sort of.
According to news reports, Brooklyn city councilman David Greenfield recently announced that he plans to introduce legislation that would grant special parking placards to women, who are found by doctors, to have “physical or mobility challenges.” Basically, the bill would give moms-to-be access to free parking in no-parking or no-standing zones until 30 days after their due date. Greenfield says his intent is to aid pregnant women and those recovering from complicated childbirths.
“If I’m on a train and a pregnant woman walks in, I stand up and offer her my seat,” Greenfield told the New York Daily News. “I consider this legislation to be the same thing – standing up on the city council for women who have difficult pregnancies.”
Georgia and Oklahoma passed similar laws a few years ago, but in Brooklyn, the proposed legislation has already hit a road block. Hundreds of angry critics have vocalized their ire over Greenfield’s plan claiming that the city’s parking laws are messed up already and giving a pass to pregnant women would further complicate matters. The main concern seems to be with scammers looking to abuse the placard system.
Then there’s the National Organization for Women in New York City which is also weighing in on the matter. The group maintains that there is rampant workplace discrimination against pregnant women as it is, and it fears that the free parking placards “could feed the perception that expectant women are weak.”
I don’t see pregnant women as weak, but I know the majority of them are tired and if they have sore backs, swollen feet and are schlepping a bunch of grocery bags and a couple of other kids, the idea of being able to park closer to a building for free is a welcome gift.
How do you feel about the new legislation? What about stork parking in general? Do you think it discriminates against men?
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