From Crains:Most car-owning New Yorkers live by the dictates of alternate-side parking, anxiously circling for a spot or double-parking until the sweeper makes its rounds. Off the streets and under buildings, however, exists a glut of parking spaces, built not to accommodate demand but to comply with zoning that the city has barely updated since the auto boom more than half a century ago.
The result is not just little-used garages in neighborhoods bordered by car-packed curbs, but a policy that seems to be at odds with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vision of a sustainable city that rationally allocates precious resources and removes barriers to business.
The Department of City Planning knows its 1950s-era parking requirements are outdated and is preparing to issue recommendations for Manhattan and “inner-ring” neighborhoods, such as those in western Brooklyn and Queens. But transportation advocates worry that reforms will fail to dent what they deem an oversupply of parking at large developments.
“We've asserted that limiting parking supply can be a valuable tool to encourage mass transit,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “[The city's] point of view is people will own cars and drive, no matter what.”
The problem is not that there are too many private parking spaces. The problem is that there aren't enough street parking spaces, and without the private spaces the street parking situation would be impossible. But now the owners of these buildings are charging ridiculous rates for parking, which is driving people to park on the street. Many people who live in Queens near mass transit own cars because our mass transit system is frequently out of service or doesn't go directly where one wants to travel. Until mass transit changes, the parking situation will not change.
7 comments:
I love my car.
I plan to marry my car as soon as NY State makes it legal.
many two family home owners do not use their side parking spaces fully or garages.in Queens. they become storage space or living quarters.
many park across the driveways, at night and reduce the ability to use the curbcuts for vehicle turn around , especially on dead end streets.
too many extra long people mover vans are using the street parking all night, taking most of the curb space. they should be considered commercial trucks.
too many commercial licensed trucks are parking on residential property at night ,with no nyc agents to summons them.
are these not quality of life violations ?
There will never be enough street parking, regardless of how wonderful and utopian the mass transit system ever became. People want cars for reasons other than to go to work. For years I lived in Astoria, took the train to work in Chelsea, and owned a car for nighttime and weekend travel. Now I live in Bayside and we are a one car family because my spouse is able to get to work in lower Manhattan via LIRR and I am home with our child and use our car 2-3 weekdays. Should his job ever relocate to another borough, which has been discussed as a strong possiblity, we would either need a second car, or I would be stuck in a transportation wasteland or nightmare for getting elsewhere in Queens, which is where I need to be most of the time.
People want cars. Period. Too many people equals too many cars. You don't like the crowd, move to Omaha. No problems there.
The problem is that the people in Queens are not stopping development.
Look at the outrage of Flushing, LIC, Dutch Kills, Elmhurst, Astoria.
As long as you say nothing, or let your elected officials and their lackeys on the Community Boards and weeklies bullshit you, you don't deserve a place for your car on the street.
Everything has to be fought and everyone has to think to prompt them into action.
I love the argument of how everyone should use mass transit and get out of their cars. Do any of these mental rejects (especially at transportation Alternatives) realize that the transit system is basically at capacity now? You can't even get on the 6 or 7 trains now. What do you think would happen if thousands more abandon their cars get on the trains? And I won't even get started on the buses.
Please keep the parking, in fact make it a requirement to have more parking, just charge the correct rate and problem solved.
Amazing that there's a belief if parking are hard to come by then people will be dissuaded from driving. What about people that need to drive to work? Yes, in Manhattan, you can even walk if the subway are out of service due to constant construction work. I don't get Bloomberg at all. A businessman with no business sense or common sense. How the heck did he build Bloomberg in the first place? Better dust off that rusty bicycle. I guess the benefit is that I'll have superb cardio and my doctor will be happy with that. Downside is that I'll be sweaty everywhere I go from biking.
Post a Comment