From the Queens Courier:Parking is never easy to find in New York, especially on a busy one-way street like Skillman Avenue, which is a path to the Queensboro Bridge. However, one local group wants to take away parking spots in the name of public safety – and business owners are not happy about it.
“Parking spots are at a premium here,” said Gary O’Neill, the owner of Aubergine Café at 49-22 Skillman Avenue, who noted that more than 30 percent of his customers come from outside the neighborhood. “They help little stores thrive, as opposed to big companies with parking lots.”
After consulting with Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group, Safer Skillman proposed sacrificing three parking spaces at the corners of Skillman and 51st and 52nd Streets, so that there would be better visibility for drivers turning onto the Avenue.
However, for business owners like Tunney, the solution is enforcing traffic laws – not taking away parking spaces.
7 comments:
TA does not mean 'Transportation Alternatives' but 'Totally Assinine' or 'Traffic Anarchy'.
Building these guys up is another thank you we owe that mayor.
Millions went into bike lanes while hospitals are closed.
I feel for these guys, but we're going through the biggest recession since the Great Depression, and he blames his reduction in business on the removal of a few parking spaces in a very walkable neighborhood? That's some lazy and nuts thinking.
30% of his business comes from outside the neighborhood and in these tough economic times, the fact that people are driving and parking along a commercial strip at night makes me think Sunnyside is weathering the storm pretty well.
no matter what people will be parked along the corner blocking the view onto the ave., its just a way of life around there.
anon2: I buy that -not really many vacancies in the neighborhood overall, and a surprising # of new businesses have opened during the past 6-12 mths (remains to be seen how many will be left by the end of the year).
Pardon the pride, I'd like to point out that the reporter of this article attends CUNY J-School, which I also attend. Go public school!
Let them park under the train and walk over a block to get their scone.
I can't believe the guy from Aubergine Café is against this... were the cars going through his storefront in the last few years really not enough to convince him there's a problem??
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