For those fortunate enough to be unfamiliar with the routine of “alternate side parking”, the title refers to New York City’s maddening rules that dictate which side of the street (and at what time) one can park so as not to interfere with street cleaning schedules. The title is also a nod to the conflicting sides taken up by the books’ characters: an affluent group of neighbors living on an Upper West Side cul-de-sac and the people who work for them.