Congestion Pricing and Resident Permit Parking
Regardless of your position on the Bloomberg administration’s proposal for congestion pricing in Manhattan, it’s not hard to imagine how the implementation of such a plan could have a very negative trickle-down effect for those parts of the outer boroughs that are both close to Manhattan and serviced by major subway lines. As Sheldon Silver…
Regardless of your position on the Bloomberg administration’s proposal for congestion pricing in Manhattan, it’s not hard to imagine how the implementation of such a plan could have a very negative trickle-down effect for those parts of the outer boroughs that are both close to Manhattan and serviced by major subway lines. As Sheldon Silver said, “Some of those areas will become parking lots for the people driving around looking for parking spots in order to avoid congestion pricing fees.” To counter such criticism, Bloomberg has has floated the idea of making resident-only permit parking available (for a modest annual fee) in neighborhoods like Park Slope, Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City. Queens Councilman John Liu isn’t buying the idea. “It doesn’t necessarily improve the situation, it just shifts the boundary of contention,” said Liu. “It sounds great, but I think the implementation would be a hard stretch.” Of course, there’s also another reason that residents of certain neighborhoods may want parking permits soon: Atlantic Yards. Are you in favor of resident-only parking permits?
Bloomberg Eying Resident-only Parking Permits [NY Daily News]
Photo by new hobby
ANN 4:35. I am not a Whiner.
I live in Ditmas Park and I have a DRIVEWAY…
I am just simply saying the transit system is not family friendly or friendly for the elderly…
I would take the train a lot more with my 3 kids if the system was better.
2nd… like I said I am 50 /50 on the parking permits.
Bring it on to Victorian Flatbush.
I think permits would hurt place more like Park Slope more then it would Victorian Flatbush..
We are not as large of a shopping destination like the Slope is…
Give 3 hour passes for shopping and we are set….
This one?
http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/bstfrmef.cgi?QUERYTYPE=BILLNO+&SESSYR=2007+&QUERYDATA=S6068+&QQDATA=S6068+&GETSEL=TEXT+&LST=+&BROWSER=EXPLORER+&TOKEN=34944223&TARGET=VIEW&SELECT=TEXT
There is a lot of misinformation being thrown around here.
Please go to NYS Senate website and read Bill S6068 – the bill seeking a homerule message for congestion pricing and resident permit parking among other things.
5:16- there are at least two over by the ansonia, if not three. Not sure of the blocks- but I used them when my girlfriend lived on 15th. Parking over there is the worst. There is one on Garfield- not so far south of union, but still. There’s parking on 9th street near 4th ave. If you live that far south- go to Craigslist and you’ll find people near PPSW who are renting there backyard garages out for far less.
The political class was apoplectic when the commuter tax was nixed by Albany.
This is the replacement.
the new commuter tax to feed the insatiable maw of the NY bureaucracy.
as we say in brooklyn: moh money, moh money, moh money.
I love that some clueless types think this is about the environemnt or
carbon footprint or nonsense like that.
Its about MOH MONEY.
Very well said, indeed! Anon 5:07. You forgot diplomatic vehicles, too. They already do whatever they please, and I’m sure we don’t want to offend any of our foreign guests by asking them to pay to come into Manhattan. Although many embassies are in midtown, many diplomatic staff members, especially the lower echelons, live outside of midtown Manhattan.
The exceptions are going to only leave the poor working schlub holding the bag. Not fair!
anon 4:42–
I’ve lived in Park Slope 15 years and I know of one garage south of Union (on 11th or 12 Street between 7th and 8th Aves). If you can name any specific other ones–other than “there are lots on the side streets”–I’d love to know about them so I can park there, but clearly someone’s been hiding them from me.
Yes congestion pricing is a new tax – so what! Unless we are going to have a flat tax, it makes sense to tax things that you don’t want ( i.e. – “the power to tax is the power to destroy”) –
Someone must pay for the mass transit of the future?
Why not those people who are driving into the city center at peak times – even if they still drive – don’t you think they should pay for the privledge?
Which is why resident passes don’t make sense unless they cost $ and are simply designed to discourage drivers from commuting to ‘near’ center city and then using the subway. It would make no sense to encourage car ownership among boro residents while trying to discourage it by commuters
I am regular rider of subway who works in mid-town Manhattan and I do not drive to work.
I feel the so-called ‘Congestion Pricing’ proposal although a worthy objective is flawed, misdirected and unfair.
1) Private Vehicles are Not the Major cause of Congestion in Midtown. As I walk streets of midtown and look out my office window I observe the far vast majority of vehicles on the streets are yellow cabs, ‘black cars’, commercial vehicles and buses. There are relatively few ‘private vehicles’ driving around. I concede that at ‘rush hour’ they are more numerous at bridges/tunnels and highways but they are very small percentage of vehicles stuck trying to go crosstown during business hours.
2) ‘Black Cars’/limos are a major factor that is being completely ignored by mayor. These ovesized, gas guzzling, omniprescent limos, ‘town cars’ etc. are parked waiting outside any major office building, blocking bus lanes, standing idle waiting for next call, hogging truck loading zones on side streets. This forces trucks unloading to double park and further create traffic gridlock. The number of these vehicles is enormous. But has the mayor even given us a count of them?
3)Yellow Cabs – drive around picking up and dropping fares and blocking traffic wherever they like. Take a look down any street in Manhattan. It is swarm of cabs not private vehicles. I do applaud the mayor for announcing effort to change the fleet to hybrid vehicles since they are large percent of vehicles on the street. LETS EXPAND THIS TO the ‘black cars’ also.
4) How are ‘private vehicles’ any less desireable/polluting/congestion causing than cabs and limos? My impression is mayor is trying to make it faster for the limo set to travel around.. Why not lower the number of cabs, ‘black cars’ but charging $5 tax on Each fare in congestion area? No, the mayor is only interested in ‘private cars’ not the bigger limos that his crowd uses for transportation.
5) Displacement of traffic. Will trucks trying to avoid $21 tax that would usually use Lincoln or Holland Tunnel to New Jersey from Brooklyn or Queens now further clog BQE to Verrazano and CrossBronx to George Washington Bridge. These highways that are already clogged with diesel vehicles running through highest asthma neighborhoods be further burdened?
6) NYC and New York State Government employees permits. City and state (and yes federal too) have high percentage of workers driving to work because of widespread abuse of parking permits. Mayor and governor need not tax the populace further to remedy this situation but he has ignored it. Midtown and all our neighborhoods are burderend by special parking for schools employees, court employes (including judges), police and fire depts, etc. Besides encouraging the employees to drive to work they are parking in no-parking areas causing further problems. How much you bet these same people will be exempt from congestion pricing?
7) Overcrowded subways. Already trains are vastly overcrowded and move slower at rush hour because can not handle number of passengers. Congestion pricing is aimed at ‘commuters’ meaning more passengers at peak times when system can not handle them.
I know promise of improved public transit. But that is unproven and not believable.
I have to wait for trains to pass now at rush hour before I can get on one and MTA already has said can not handle more. Non-rush hours system can handle more riders but not during rush hours.
8) Extreme commuting times for some NYC residents. Using subways is very convenient for me. But for many NYC residents it is not. Large numbers of people do not live near subway line and even in Manhattan many people work long walk to subway. My impression (although I do not have stats) is that the many hospitals along 1st Avenue and the many businesses along Far West Side of Manhattan which are all long walk to a subway line constitute a fair percentage of people that opt to drive cars to work. Think about how long it would take by public transport and walking to reach man of these places. (say Rosedale to NYU Hospital)
9) Creates a divide in our city. Addressing congestion in one area of NYC without addressing congestion in our neighborhoods further creates impression that our leaders are only concerned with Manhattan and not the majority of NYC residents. Congestion pricing can be viewed as tool to restrict and tax the ‘bridge and tunnel’ people to make it easier for ‘elite’ to get around Manhattan in their limos.
I am all in favor of improving traffic flow, improving mass-transit and better air-quality. Although the mayor purports that congestion pricing addresses these important issues I feel strongly it is not equitable, ineffective and counter-productive.