For one thing, they took away parking spaces, which are already extremely scarce.

Parking spaces should be scarce in NYC.

Secondly, because they are slightly raised, they made for a perfectly safe little living space for vermin under the floorboards

Lol, are you seriously trying to blame NYC's rat problem on these? The problem has more to do with the large piles of garbage sitting on the street.

Thirdly, none of them were built with any kind of permits or regulations

Ooooh noooo, an unpermitted shed, noooo 😭

Land in a city should be put to its highest and best use. Are these little seating areas the highest and best use? Maybe, maybe not. But the highest and best use definitely isn't parked cars.