Parking

A few weeks ago, Streetsblog regular Susan Donovan snapped some pics of sidewalk-hogging cars parked near Yankee Stadium and added them to our Flickr pool. Today she (and her photos) appeared on New York 1, in a report filed by Susan Jhun that looks at the mess caused by game-day parking. Score one for TV coverage of pedestrian rights:

This curb-cutting driveway leads to a parking lot for a new residential development on 16th Street in Brooklyn.

The proliferation of off-street parking is pushing New York toward higher rates of car ownership and substantially more traffic. To avert a scenario where the city becomes less transit-oriented and more beholden to car owners, a coalition of planning and environmental groups is calling for the reform of off-street parking policies.

Yesterday, several planning and environmental organizations joined Transportation Alternatives on the steps of City Hall to tout the release of "Suburbanizing the City" [PDF], the new report that critiques New York City's off-street parking policies. The coalition is similar -- but not identical -- to the array of groups that pushed for congestion pricing earlier this year. Their testimony highlighted the range of benefits that off-street parking reform would deliver, from mitigating tailpipe emissions to reducing housing costs.

Adjacent blocks in Park Slope, one built before parking requirements took effect, and one built after.

According to a senior municipal bond analyst at a leading Wall Street firm, New York City could raise between five and six billion dollars immediately if it privatized its parking meters as Chicago is doing. Whether privatization is the right way to unlock New York City's parking riches is debatable. What's not in question is that curbside parking in New York and most U.S. cities is grossly underpriced and could potentially be a crucial source of revenue for much needed transportation improvements.

The Observer reported last week that Extell Development wants to lease an underground chunk of its huge West Side project to big box retailer Costco. Included in the plan: 2,300 parking spaces. To put that in perspective, the Red Hook Ikea, projected to yield 17,000 car trips on peak days, makes do with a 1,400-car parking lot. The building where Extell wants to put the Costco and the garage will be mostly residential. No matter how many spaces are set aside for residents or shoppers, the inclusion of so much parking flies in the face of the city's stated goal to reduce traffic.

After calling attention last month to the traffic-reducing power of parking reform, Transportation Alternatives has released a follow-up report with a parking prescription for New York. "Pricing the Curb" [PDF] looks to innovative programs underway in Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Chicago for inspiration. With DOT taking steps toward setting variable-rate prices for curbside parking -- which it calls "peak rate parking" -- the report urges the Bloomberg administration to go further. A full-featured parking policy is one way the city can take on traffic without Albany's approval.