Making a driveway
Hi, say you own a limestone in Sunset Park that is set back a bit from the road. Is there any possibility of putting in a small driveway, assuming the house is far enough back from the sidewalk? Obviously this would require you to cut the curb to make the driveway entrance and would take…
Hi, say you own a limestone in Sunset Park that is set back a bit from the road. Is there any possibility of putting in a small driveway, assuming the house is far enough back from the sidewalk? Obviously this would require you to cut the curb to make the driveway entrance and would take away from normal street parking.
Anyway, curious if there is any info about this.
Thanks
i have neighbor that didn’t cut his curb but instead he just painted yellow lines in front of his house and painting no parking and he just drives his car up the curb and parks in front of his house. The car doesn’t block the sidewalk. Is it legal for what he’s doing?
I cycle/subway to work and I have since arriving in Brooklyn well nigh 20 years ago. I only have the car for weekend use. I spend approximately 30 minutes *every single night* looking for a parking space.
Think about how much needless pollution that adds to the air, how much more congestion that causes in the streets.
I know cutting the curb would be selfish. I know it degrades the neighborhood, but that’s 30 minutes every single day that I could spend with my family or chatting with neighbors, that instead is spent driving around in circles, spewing C02, searching for a parking space.
I hate curb cuts. Hate hate hate. Sorry. Why? Because I like to walk down the sidewalk.
I’m used to stopping at corners to let cars go by; I don’t want to do it in the middle of the block too. Plus, a lot of selfish people (of course, none of YOU would do this) stop their cars on the sidewalk to load or unload stuff, or to unlock a gate. Some people (again, I’m sure none of you) even park their cars half on the sidewalk, or blocking the sidewalk.
You want better transportation? How much does it cost to put in a driveway and curb cut? Imagine if you took that money, gave it to your city council person, and said, “Can you help get us better bus service?” Imagine if everyone in the neighborhood did that.
Curb cuts, painting a long yellow stripe in front of your house, all those fancy apartment buildings in the city with their “Please don’t block the entrance” signs in front. JUST SAY NO, and call in a complaint to 311. It takes a while for someone to come and inspect, but they do come….
There are some blocks in Flatbush where every home has made an illegal curb cut to make “driveways.” On these blocks there is literally no where to park! The city should allow the curb cuts in areas where code requirements can be met but strictly enforce the codes and issue summones’ to those who have made convenient spaces for themselves. When these houses are sold to the next owner, does it somehow then become a porblem if it was not done to code? What about other changes that were not reported to DOB?
Sorry, Tom, I have to disagree. Yes, of course mass transit needs improvement, but that doesn’t justify curb cuts. The solution to the need for more mass transit isn’t facilitating the use of automobiles. As for car owners just trying to “survive” — get a grip. I own a car and park on the street. I survive. I also commute to Manhattan by bicycle except in snow and heavy rain. Most of NYC lacks “sufficient” on-street parking, if by “sufficient” you mean enough on-street parking so that everybody can have a car and park it on their block. And the solution is to park cars in yards and on sidewalks?
Curb cuts are selfish because they are, as pointed out above, a form of privatizing public space. When someone puts in a curb cut, no one else can park in that space. The street loses a public space — where the curb cut was — and the property owner gains a PRIVATE space that no one else can use. I stand by my statement that curb cuts are SELFISH.
I don’t see how it’s relevant that we once used horses and now use cars. That’s about the past. The future of transportation in Brooklyn lies in mass transit, cycling, and walking.
SPer, I’m reminded of a defense Pete Hamill advanced some time ago to counter a similar situation: Would you want to clean up all the horse shit?
Cars in great numbers have a downside; however, it’s how we got here, right?
Brooklyn, where we live, is also a great workplace and a great marketplace. Convenient transportation is essential for this to function.
When I see home-owner spending big bucks to create off-street parking, I see someone who is extremely frustrated. I don’t see this person as selfish but as someone who wants to survive given the current predicament.
Sunset Park lacks sufficient on-street parking. That fact doesn’t deter DoT from eliminating even more legal spots year after year and making a bad situation worse.
By the way, we don’t have the ‘excellent’ mass
transportation as you might presume. I would give a good grade only to a service running when it’s needed. The MTA has been gradually eliminating service to this locale. Five of our seven bus lines don’t run at night. The ‘R’ and the ‘N’ lines are also curtailed during non-rush hours. During weekends service is eliminated south of 36th Street at night. I guess they think we all have cars.
teegee, you don’t really explain what changed your mind about curb cuts. what was it — getting a car? Cars in general have a very negative impact on quality of life in a city. Sunset Park happens to have excellent mass transit with the express stop at 36th St. Your defense of curb cuts is completely empty except to say that it’s a pain in the ass to have to look for parking. In other words, only makes sense from a selfish point of view.
Here is the application for curb cuts.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/curbcuts.pdf