Parking
Streetsblog Basics
Easing the Park Slope Parking Crunch? There’s No App for That
All About Fifth, the blog of Park Slope's Fifth Avenue BID, posted a plug today for Roadify, one of several emerging applications that hope to help drivers find parking through the use of mobile devices.
January 4, 2010
Police Academy 2: Starring a 3,000-Car Garage
Last week brought another prime example of Bloomberg administration schizophrenia on urban sustainability. After his flight back from the Copenhagen climate summit, the mayor's first stop was a former auto pound in College Point, Queens, where he met up with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to break ground on the city's new $750 million police academy.
December 21, 2009
City Council’s “Grace Period” Sparks Parking Agent Assault. What’s Next?
Before it's even signed into law, the City Council's inane parking meter "grace period" is already making the job of traffic law enforcement that much harder. Last week a Bronx TEA agent was allegedly assaulted by a 23-year-old motorist named George Collazo, who was under the impression that the new rule had already taken effect. The Daily News reports:
December 7, 2009
The Climate Pitfalls of Denmark’s Electric Car Parking Perk
Outside of China, only two cities of more than a million people are known to have a bicycling mode-share over 30 percent: Amsterdam and Copenhagen. As Rutgers urban expert John Pucher has documented, cycling's vibrantly high percentage of urban trips throughout Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany was not the product of amorphous cultural factors. Rather, it came about through public policies that not only made cycling safe and convenient but also made driving costly and cumbersome.
December 4, 2009
Do Unto Others? Church Parking Placards Put Cyclists in Harm’s Way
We posted the link in today's headlines, but you really need the visuals that go with this story of bike-lane blocking, curb-mounting Sunday motorists, and the police who sanction them. Via Gothamist, the video comes courtesy of Ink Lake blogger Peter Kaufman, a Brooklyn Heights resident who noticed that all the cars illegally parked on Henry Street during Sunday services at First Presbyterian sport postcards on the dash. They say "Church Business," and the 84th Precinct honors them as if they were etched on stone tablets.
December 2, 2009
City Planning Preserves Sidewalks, But Reinforces Parking Minimums
The Department of City Planning proposed new rules last week that should keep sidewalks safer and reduce conflicts between pedestrians and cars. The zoning regs, if approved, would also cut down on the proliferation of "parking pads" -- off-street spaces paved over front yards -- in some parts of the city. Overall, the amendment includes some much-needed measures to keep the pedestrian environment from deteriorating. But not all the news is good: The amendment also creates a new rule, reinforcing parking requirements for
residential buildings.
November 24, 2009
It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
City parking meters are a gold mine, and in Chicago, Morgan Stanley is rolling in parking riches. Secret
company documents leaked to reporters show the company will rake in a 70 percent profit
margin this year from its $1.15 billion, 75-year lease of Chicago's parking
meters. This profit is on top of the millions Morgan paid to buy new, high-tech
meters. The good times will keep on rolling for investors: In 2010, after another meter
price hike, Morgan expects to make monthly profits of $4.8 million, roughly 55 percent
higher than in 2009.
November 20, 2009
In Third Term, Bloomberg Must Align All Agencies With PlaNYC
We continue our series on the next four years of New York City transportation and planning policy with today's essay by Ron Shiffman. Co-founder of the Pratt Center for Community Development and a professor at the Pratt Institute's Graduate Center for Planning, Shiffman served on the City Planning Commission from 1990 to 1996. Read previous installments in this series here, here, and here.
November 19, 2009
City Council Parking Giveaway Will Bring More Gridlock
New Yorkers could spend a third of a million more hours a
year stuck in traffic if the “grace period” for parking violations voted
by the City Council this week becomes law.
November 19, 2009
Use Your Phone to Find Parking! Just, Um, Not While Driving.
Try as they might, City Council members haven't cornered the market on ridiculous, counterproductive on-street parking "solutions." Now making its way to your neighborhood: "Parking Around Me," a new service that facilitates parking alerts between drivers via text message.
November 17, 2009