Tuesday’s Headlines: Shoup at 7 Edition

Donald Shoup – perhaps the world’s foremost expert in parking policy — speaks to the citizen-legislators of Manhattan Community Board 7 on Tuesday night.

The Los Angeles-based planning professor and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking” will beam into the civic panel via Zoom for a “Discussion of Parking Reform in Anticipation of Congestion Pricing” at the monthly Transportation Committee meeting.

Parking anxiety abounds in the neighborhoods above 60th Street ahead of the planned mid-June launch of tolls on drivers entering Lower Manhattan. Locals fear drivers will choose to leave their cars just outside the zone to avoid paying the fines, even if that adds time to their commute.

That’s not likely, according to the MTA’s professional forecasters — but that hasn’t stopped scaremongering from pricing opponents, including the New York Post. The tabloid ran a story over the weekend that claimed the Upper West Side was already plagued by an influx of “congestion pricing-evaders” even though the toll hasn’t even launched. One restaurant worker from Danbury told the paper he “needed to get a feel for the competition” ahead of the new toll. Others thought the toll was already in place.

But a few drivers does not equal an influx — and the MTA stands by its studies predicting “no significant impact” on competition for the curb on the Upper West Side “or anywhere else.”

Maybe Shoup will have some insights to clear up the debate on Tuesday. Streetsblog will be there to find out.

In other news:

• ConEd spilled one thousand gallons of oil in the Bronx River last week. (Gothamist)
• Gov. Hochul has kept Rockland County’s MTA board seat empty for over 10 months. (Daily News)
• Congestion pricing is “the biggest urban experiment in decades,” Axios says.
• The MTA banned 66 individual toll evaders who collectively owed over $700K. (News 12)
• “Mystery water” overtakes three-block stretch of Broadway on the Upper West Side. (West Side Rag)
• Stroller-commuter advocates say congestion pricing “helps NYC families.” (Daily News)
• Mayor Adams rallies for “City of Yes” zoning changes as Council Member Kevin Riley calls for more attention to last-mile deliveries and warehouse siting. (amNY)
• “Functional and aesthetic” upgrades wrap up at Sutphin-Archer and Jamaica-Van Wyck subway stations. (QNS)
• Undeterred by Streetsblog’s coverage — and perhaps empowered by the Department of Transportation’s apparent permissiveness — NYPD’s 94th Precinct went ahead and painted more parking spots onto the sidewalk: