Notice how the corners are curved in? It's done to make the crosswalk shorter and hopefully reduce the number of pedestrian accidents. I guess this has been a bad corner in the past.
A side-effect of this design is the loss of 8 or more parking spaces on the street close to the corner. For the owners of those houses on the corner, they now have to find somewhere else to park, or do they? It seems they really don't care if they block traffic.
I'm sure you can tell that even on the straighter section of street, there is just enough room to park on both sides and allow two cars to pass driving up the street while each trying to keep to their side of the road. (Imagine this in Winter when the people who live here fail to remove the snow on the street in front of their homes, but park there anyway. They are often almost in the middle of the street.) Once you get to the top of the curve on each corner, there is barely room for one large vehicle to pass if both sides are blocked. In fact, if there is on coming traffic as you make your turn, there is no where to go.
I know they are trying to make it safer for pedestrians, but in an obviously high traffic area, they have made it more dangerous for the drivers. Even more so when the corner residents attempt to claim the parking in front of their house.
The magic question, what would you do if YOU frequent this intersection?
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