a parking spot hiding in plain sight?

I may have discovered a parking spot hiding in plain sight.

First, let me describe the venue -- Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, between Midland Parkway and Edgerton Blvd. It's a commercial zone, and about a bajillion buses have stops there. Lots of people pick up or drop off passengers at the subway, since that's where the termional for the F train is -- and there are more than a few exits from the station along that stretch. Everyone knows there's nowhere to park along there, since the whole stretch is bus stops.

Or is it?

The other day I noticed something peculiar on the north side of the street, near the eastern end. See the picture below, which shows the north side of the street, facing west.

When I took the picture, I was standing in the crosswalk. West of the crosswalk is a "No Standing" sign with an arrow pointing east. That precludes parking east of that sign. Immediately west of the sign is a short stretch -- room for one car, maybe two if they're smart cars -- with no parking control indicators, except for yellow paint on the curb. Next is a bus stop sign with a single-headed arrow pointing west. That precludes parking to the west of that sign.

So what's the story with the stretch between the two signs? Normal intuition would tell me that you can't park there, but there are no signs telling me that. The curb is painted yellow, but I read enough of Gridlock Sam's columns to know that paint on the curb has no legal weight within New York City.

I'm not going to park there. If, for some reason I'm overlooking, it's not a legal parking spot then I could get a ticket which I'd have to pay. If it is legal then I could still get a ticket (because it doesn't seem like a real space, and police are people too) -- and then my best case is not paying but having aggravation. Not worth it.

But curiosity has me wondering.

I'm going to email Gridlock Sam with a link to this post and ask him if the spot is legal. If he gets back to me I'll follow up.

But, regardless of what he says, I'm not gonna park there.