Parking
Streetsblog Basics
Space-Hogging Drivers, CB 12 Kill Washington Heights Greenmarket
Last September, Manhattan Community Board 12 tabled a resolution in support of a new Greenmarket for W. 185th Street in Washington Heights. The effort to locate the market was community-driven -- a neighborhood resident gathered 1,000 signatures in support of it -- the board's parks committee was enthusiastically in favor, and the city's Greenmarket office was in the process of securing a tow truck to remove errant vehicles. But the idea stalled when a handful of area residents predicted the market would draw noisy early-morning crowds, and complained that it would tie up the street's 19 parking spots for a few hours a week.
July 8, 2009
Chicago Pays the Price for Parking Privatization
It appears Chicago politicians who privatized city parking meter operations traded short-term political gain for long-term fiscal pain.
June 17, 2009
Fifth Ave Merchants: Delivery Problems Have Nothing to Do With Bike Lane
Tuesday's post about the Fifth Avenue bike lane in Park Slope gave me the chance to talk to several retail merchants about how they receive their deliveries, and whether the Class 2 bike lane is causing them any trouble. According to Fifth Avenue BID director Irene LoRe, the bike lane makes it tougher for delivery drivers to do their job and adds to the cost of doing business. But based on my conversations with other restaurant owners and retailers, there is little support for this view among merchants on the strip.
June 11, 2009
Fifth Ave BID, CB6 District Manager Take Aim at Park Slope Bike Lane
Just about every New York City neighborhood has to deal with the consequences of dirt cheap on-street parking. When you practically give away spaces at rock-bottom prices, it guarantees double parking and endless cruising for spots by bargain hunting drivers. Which is bad news for all the bus riders, cyclists, and delivery drivers who have to contend with the clogged curbs, extra traffic, and lane-blocking vehicles that result.
June 9, 2009
Eyes on the Street: Madison Square Ped Space Invaded
"Have placard-bearing drivers begun their own reclaiming of reclaimed public space?"
May 11, 2009
Victory for Hell’s Kitchen: Lawsuit Limits New Parking
In what looks like a big win for community livable streets advocates, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association has settled its long-standing lawsuit over parking in the Hudson Yards area, where the Bloomberg administration sought the construction of thousands of new spaces.
May 8, 2009
Pro-Parking Policies Will Sully the Legacy of PlaNYC
Former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, widely credited as the architect of PlaNYC, spoke at the Museum of the City of New York last week on the potential impact of Mayor Bloomberg's signature program. According to City Room, Doctoroff considers the two-year-old environmental blueprint on par with such grand projects as Central Park and the development of the Manhattan street grid.
April 27, 2009
Bloomberg: Buildings Can Be Green and Full of Parking
Kudos to Mayor Mike for calling out the Senate Dems' poor excuse for an MTA plan. If only Bloomberg could see his own policies with such clear eyes.
April 23, 2009
Simcha Felder Defends Parking Violators From Enforcement “Vultures”
In this clip from NY1's "Road to City Hall," City Council member Simcha Felder defends his proposal to give drivers a five-minute "grace period" before they can be ticketed for overstaying the time limit at parking spots. Taking the law-and-order view is Transportation Alternatives director Paul White, who points out that codifying parking ticket excuses will simply sow confusion about what constitutes a violation.
February 23, 2009