CIRCLING THE BLOCK

Why New York drivers waste two hundred million hours a year looking for a place to park.

- BY ZACH HELFAND

One of the first jobs that George Bichikashvili had in America was securing some street-parking spaces in the Bronx for Con Edison, at ten dollars an hour. Bichikashvili, who is from Tbilisi, Georgia, didn't understand why anyone would pay for this. “You just take up four spots of parking and sit there until they tell you to leave,” he said. But a job was a job. On the morning of November 18, 2022, Bichikashvili pulled a blue Chrysler minivan onto St. Theresa Avenue, in Pelham Bay. As directed, he parked atop a Con Ed manhole, set out some orange cones, and settled in. He wore a safety helmet and a neon work vest. The morning was beautiful. He watched the sunrise in the rearview mirror. Winter was creeping in. His breath fogged up the glass.

Bichikashvili was twenty-nine, an outgoing guy with a bright optimism. He'd moved to New York because he was determined to live an interesting life. In Tbilisi, he'd danced in the Sukhishvili National Ballet, Georgia's most prestigious troupe. He loved Americans, in part because of Kobe Bryant. He loved New York because of the TV show “Suits.” He told himself that in this country he could do anything.

In the minivan, he passed the day making video calls to Tbilisi. He used the bathroom in a bodega. He is an eager conversationalist, but sitting in the car sapped his desire to do anything, so he mostly scrolled his phone. A supervisor had told him that Con Ed needed him to block off several parking spaces and the manhole so that some repairs could be made. No one told him when the work crew might come. Night fell and he dozed off. He woke up every four hours to upload a photo in an app, as he'd been instructed, confirming his location, and to turn on the heat for a bit. There was a frost. By sunrise, he was wearing leggings, two pairs of pants, two shirts, a hat, and two jackets, which was every item of warm clothing he had with him.