Pols Rallying for Residential Parking Permits
This Monday, several City Council Members and a number of neighborhood groups are holding a forum for Brooklynites to chew on the idea of residential parking permits. The town hall-style meeting will focus on whether the permits, which would probably cost a small annual fee, could help alleviate curbside parking problems and traffic in Downtown….
This Monday, several City Council Members and a number of neighborhood groups are holding a forum for Brooklynites to chew on the idea of residential parking permits. The town hall-style meeting will focus on whether the permits, which would probably cost a small annual fee, could help alleviate curbside parking problems and traffic in Downtown. Council Members David Yassky, Letitia James and Bill de Blasio have organized the event, which is expected to draw several hundred residents, and DOT comish Janette Sadik-Khan is scheduled to attend. Councilman de Blasio sees the forum as the first step in developing parking strategies for all of Brooklyn. “Lack of a coherent parking strategy has been an ongoing problem in Brooklyn, de Blasio told us. I think this forum represents a step in the right direction, and I look forward to extending this conversation to communities throughout the borough. Regardless of the fate of congestion pricing—which would almost certainly increase competition for spots—Downtown’s population is expected to swell in coming years, thus exacerbating the already great demand for curbside parking spaces. Councilman Yassky said it is long past time for New York to consider adopting the permits, especially in Downtown. Other big cities have used this strategy successfully to reduce traffic and ease parking difficulties, he said. Four years ago, when the Bloomberg Administration was seeking approval for new development around Metrotech, Deputy Mayor Doctoroff promised—in writing—that the administration would try residential parking permits in the surrounding neighborhoods. The administration needs to make good on this promise.
The forum will take place at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 4th, at the St. Francis College auditorium on Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights.
Congestion Pricing and Resident Permit Parking [Brownstoner]
Photo by mike lowe.
The density is such that they should only allow 2 hour parking in all of Brooklyn heights.
I live on henry st, and all the parking spots are taken by 10:01 on tuesday. Most of the people who have cars are afraid to move them because they’ll never find another parking spot.
Because the streets are narrow, trying to load/unload requires parking on the sidewalk in a no-standing zone on top of the bike lane or next to a hydrant (but those are often occupied).
So very few people benefit from the current system — the people who need cars to go to work can’t park them, the people who only need cars on the weekends are afraid to move them, and the people who don’t have cars can’t unload stuff from a taxi near their houses
I lived in Park Slope from 1986 to 2003, and as the neighborhood got yuppier and yuppier it got so it was nearly impossible to find a parking space.
I love my driveway.
No, 10:25, it doesn’t leave you where you started because, in a neighborhood like Boerum Hill to use the examples above, you have eliminated the park-and-ride folks and the people who commute by car to downtown Brooklyn. There will almost certainly be more permits than parking spaces, so a neighborhood parking permit will be a ‘hunting license.’
People need to start buying smaller cars.
And insurers need to stop giving breaks to large vehicles- if you start to base insurance on the real weight and bulk of a vehicle people will change habits.
I worry about having guests over – my family that lives on long island – people have a right to visit neighborhoods too. Imagine never being able to drop in on someone or have someone work on your house because of permit parking. Leave it to free enterprise. People who want to park make the effort to get a legal spot.
What makes you think parking permits will make parking easier?
How do you go about allocating spaces? I live in a 4 family brownstone where every tenant has a car. Are each of the tenants entitled to permits or only the owner of the building?
If everyone is entitled to a permit, doesn’t that leave you where you started? With residents fighting fellow residents for parking spots.
Chicago has this system, and it’s true – it can be a real pain if you drive to another neighborhood.
They will undoubtedly have guest passes, so it isn’t all bad. They will likely expand metered street parking as well.
With the coming congestion charges, zoned parking permits is really the only way to prevent commuters from driving to neighborhoods close to Manhattan and hopping on the subway. So, I’d say it’s almost definite this will happen in the next five years.
We moved to Boerum Hill 10 years ago and parking was not a big problem, especially on weekends. Now it is very difficult. Even if we were to rent a space, where would we find one? All the lots we used to park in have condos on them now. People park on our block and then walk to the subway into Manhattan. Other blocks are 100% taken up with government permits.
I’m undecided on this idea, but I’m leaning toward supporting it as long as the plan is limited to neighborhoods where there is really a parking problem.
If you had ever lived with such a system you would know it’s a horrible.
Suddenly you can’t take your car ANYWHERE… anywhere you go in NYC is a neighborhood.
worst plan ever.