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Alternate side parking rules have long been the scourge of New York City car owners — but one Upper West Side woman has found a way to turn the city’s automotive headaches into a business opportunity.
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Sydney Charlet, 29, moved to Manhattan from Seattle in February after being laid off from a marketing job. By June, she had launched a service aimed at helping drivers avoid costly fines during street-sweeping hours. Her idea? Sit in their parked cars so they don’t have to.
Dubbed “The Car Sitter,” Charlet charges up to $50 to hold a spot for 90 minutes while sweeping regulations are in effect — a deal that undercuts the city’s $65 alternate side parking tickets. “I figured, why not offer to sit in their cars for less than the cost of the initial fine?” she told the New York Post, which first reported the story.
And business has been booming. A TikTok video Charlet posted on June 19 — featuring flyers advertising her service — quickly racked up nearly 600,000 views. “The video blew up online,” she told the Post. “I basically had to build the brand in a day.”
Since then, she says she’s received more than 500 service requests and has managed to serve about 20 clients so far, including repeat customers. One client even texted her: “Thank you!! I appreciate your service!! So much better than a ticket.”
Her routine is as organized as it is unconventional. Clients sign a one-time agreement outlining her responsibilities, send a deposit, and coordinate a key handoff. Before getting into the car, Charlet records a video of its exterior to document any pre-existing damage — a clip she then emails to the owner. Then she waits. “I send the video to the client via email, sit in the car for an hour and a half — I don’t move the car until the street sweeper comes by — then I return the keys. And that’s it,” she told the Post. “I’m really babysitting the car.”
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Charlet says her clients are mostly people around her age who see her fashion and lifestyle content online and feel they can relate. “They’re around my age, they get to see some of my fashion and lifestyle content,” she told the Post. “They see I’m a normal, stylish woman — like I’m someone they could be friends with in real life.”
With the gig now covering about half of her rent, Charlet sees it as more than just a stopgap. It’s part of a growing trend of New Yorkers taking on creative side hustles to make ends meet in an increasingly expensive city.
“I have been asked, ‘Well, how do I know you’re not going to steal my car?’ — and that’s such a fair question,” she said. “But the people who’ve seen my TikTok and reached out to me for service seem to feel like they can relate to me.”
Rain, shine, or summer heatwave, Charlet can be found sitting in Teslas, sedans, and SUVs across the Upper West Side — doing her part to help fellow New Yorkers avoid a parking ticket and a whole lot of stress.
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Copying something seen on Seinfeld many years ago
Does she wait out the entire alternate side interval or just until a sweeper comes through? If the latter, the car owner can still be ticketed. Although the aim of alternate side is to clean the streets,the signage just says no parking so it’s fair game to ticket. I’ve seen traffic enforcement nab half a block this way.
That’s a lot of work for the money. Maybe just apply at Trader Joe’s.
She gets $50 tax free, she would have to be paid $71 for 1.5 hours of work elsewhere to make that much after taxes- pretty sure Trader Joe’s does not pay $47 per hour.
Great, let’s keep encouraging people not to move their cars to let our streets get cleaned! ?????