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November 3, 2011
Residential permit parking passes Council committee, with support from most arena neighbors, but not without DOT opposition (to bill, not concept)
Atlantic Yards Report
A packed City Council committee hearing room yesterday was evidence that parking problems--especially but not merely linked to Yankee Stadium and expected Barclays Center crowds--frustrate a lot of New Yorkers.
To the satisfaction of many in the crowd--though not the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), which urged caution--a Council committee approved a resolution requesting the New York State Legislature to pass bills that would authorize a residential permit parking (RPP) program in New York City.
RPP, for a not-yet-established fee, would restrict up to 80% of non-metered residential street parking to residents during certain hours, thus preventing commuters and event-goers from monopolizing already scarce space. It would not guarantee a space, and commercial streets would be excluded.
“It’s not enough, but it's one meaningful policy step,” suggested Council Member Brad Lander, who called the traffic and parking situation around the arena “already a nightmare.” He urged that RPP be put into effect before the arena opens next fall.
The full Council will consider the resolution beginning today. The state bills were introduced by Senator Dan Squadron and Assembly Member Joan Millman, both of Brooklyn.
...Bronx Council Member Helen Foster, who chaired the hearing, began by saying “my constituents can't find parking, and parking lots around Yankee Stadium are going bankrupt." Not only do fans monopolize street parking, she said, they are not ticketed when they park on sidewalks or at hydrants.
Fisher thanked Brooklyn Council Member Letitia James, who represents the arena site and a good part of its surroundings, for putting the issue back on the table.
Related coverage...
The New York Times, Plan to Issue New Permits for Parking Is Debated
Nine blocks from the steel shadow of Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, Gib Veconi circles Prospect Heights nightly in his 13-year-old Volvo wagon looking for a parking spot, like a buzzard scouring for a meal.
Parking can be a blood sport in New York City, nowhere more so than along the crowded streets around the half-built Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn, centerpiece of the Atlantic Yards project. When it opens next fall for concerts and Nets basketball, the competition will get fiercer.
Jiminy Crickets, New York Times. Once and for all, Atlantic Yards is not in Downtown Brooklyn.
Fearing for pedestrian safety and pollution, while hoping to preserve the scarce parking spots left, local leaders like Mr. Veconi, the treasurer of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, have long advocated residential parking permits, or R.P.P. The cost of a permit has yet to be determined.
“It is a problem that is already a significant one, and by putting an arena on top of it, it would absolutely cause the streets to burst open with cars,” Mr. Veconi, 48, said. “If R.P.P. is not implemented by the time the arena opens, there’s going to be an outcry from those neighborhood associations like something you’ve never heard before.”
Park Slope Patch, City Council Moves Forward on Residential Parking Permits
“Sometimes I get home from work and I have to wait two hours to get a parking spot,” said a woman from Prospect Heights who lives on Dean Street a block from the construction. “This is going to get worse and worse. There’s going to be noise, air pollution. I have 21-month-old twins. This is going to be ridiculous.”
The Brooklyn Paper, Parking permitted! Council panel approves ‘pay-to-park’ plan for Barclays neighbors
Meanwhile, lawmakers in southern Brooklyn, where car ownership is far more widespread, lambasted the plan as a tax on drivers, who have always enjoyed free on-street parking.
“The idea that someone would have to pay to park in front of their own home is ludicrous,” said state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge). “This is nothing more than another tax on our communities.”
The plan was criticized along similar lines by Councilman Lew Fidler (D–Marine Park), who lobbied unsuccessfully to postpone Wednesday’s vote.
NoLandGrab: Both of these unrepentant hypocrites Golden and Fidler, whose districts are nowhere near the Barclays Center, were outspoken supporters of Atlantic Yards. Of course.
Posted by eric at November 3, 2011 12:05 PM