Alternate Side Suspended Tuesday, METERS IN EFFECT

We took care of some errands in the neighborhood today and saw the meter maids giving out tickets like candy on Halloween.


Just because alternate side parking is suspended, it doesn't mean that meters are free.  


Alternate side parking (street cleaning) regulations will be suspended Tuesday, January 18, 2011. All other regulations, including parking meters, remain in effect.

The Future of 4th Avenue Forum - March 4

The Park Slope Civic Council is hosting a forum on the Future of 4th Avenue this Thursday night. The event is being coordinated by PSCC Livable Streets Chair and transit guru Michael Cairl, and will focus on a vision for the future of this key Brooklyn artery. The forum goes beyond Park Slope/Gowanus to include Sunset Park and look at the broader picture presented by this key piece of connective infrastructure.

As Cairl says, this will be the beginning of a conversation about the future of 4th Ave. There is a tremendous potential here, but the corridor is currently facing a number of issues, from traffic to streetscape to zoning. The most recent (and controversial) rezoning, for example, has had the paradoxical consequence of creating dead spaces on the street where new residential towers have gone up, due to ground level parking and mechanicals.

And given that 4th Avenue features excellent subway access, these structures point up the absurdity of requiring onsite parking construction in new buildings. City Planning currently forces developers to suburbanize New York - a practice that must end.

This should be an excellent forum.

The Future of 4th Avenue
Thuresday, March 4, 2010, 7-9pm
St. Thomas Aquinas Church @ 4th Ave and Ninth St.

More:
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/02/14/park_slope_courier/news/courier-yn_park_slope-psfourth.txt

Curb Cuts In The News

Brownstoner, Daily News, and NYT all have articles up on legislation to address illegal curb cuts, which rob all of us community property to benefit selfish individuals. (This? Oh, it was a street space, but now you can't park there, because you'll be blocking my illegal driveway. And did I mention, now I'll be driving across the sidewalk? And paving the yard. K thx bai.)

I testified in favor of several pieces of legislation at Chairman John Liu's Transportation Committee last month that will combat this unsavory practice. Councilman Vincent Gentile has shown great leadership on this issue, and deserves some praise.

RPP Forum Wrap-up

The Residential Parking Permits forum last night was a good opportunity for a give and take between DOT and the community. Jane McGroarty, Joanne Simons and Michael Cairl did a great job of presenting matters from the community perspective.

David Yassky, Letitia James and Bill deBlasio all had some good points to make about the need for residential permit parking. Bill de had an interesting proposal for extending the RPP out to neighborhoods along the transit lines to protect against "park and ride" behavior.

I've said from the beginning that congestion pricing is necessary to reduce traffic and raise money for transit. But to actually eliminate congestion, instead of pushing it into the neighboring communities, we need a plan (RPP) to prevent people from driving their cars to communities outside the zone and taking the subways the last mile to avoid a toll. I don't want to move traffic; I want to eliminate it.

And let me be clear - I support RPP for ALL neighborhoods that want it. I support RPP not only for Brooklyn Heights and Carroll Gardens and Park Slope; I support RPP for Windsor Terrace, for Kensington, and for every neighborhood that is facing a crisis in parking. This is a city wide issue, and it needs to be addressed that way.

At the forum last night their was a contingent from Windsor Terrace protesting against RPP. The strongest sentiment I've heard from WT is a feeling of being excluded, e.g. "Windsor Terrace would be treated as the parking lot for Park Slope". That's not the way it should be; that's not the way it will be. I look forward to working with the people of WT and Kensington to make sure that we are all getting the same protections.

The last thing I'll say for now is, the system is broken. This problem is not going away, and will only be exacerbated by the tremendous amount of development under way and on the drawing boards. Defending the status quo is indefensible. We need action, and we need action that will treat every neighborhood with respect.

Addendum:
I should also note here that Bruce Schaller from DOT did a good job presenting; the "new" DOT we have these days beats the hell out of the old regime.

Congestion Pricing Plan Announced

Via Streetsblog, which has a link to the full report:

"Compared to the Mayor’s plan, the Commission’s plan has considerably lower operating and capital costs and a simpler fee structure. By increasing both the cost of taxi trips and parking within the zone, the plan ensures that those who live inside the zone also pay for auto use. The plan will also reduce traffic in neighborhoods adjacent to the zone, decrease vehicle emissions, and benefit the City and regional economy."

This is encouraging for a couple of reasons: (1) The plan is better than the Mayor's original proposal, and (2) included in the Plan is a provision for Residential Parking Permits (RPP), which are important to prevent "park and ride" behavior that defeats the purpose of congestion pricing.

More on this in the coming weeks. And don't forget, we have the RPP forum coming up on Monday night:

When

February 4, 2008 7:00 pm

Where

St. Francis College Auditorium
Remsen St.
Brooklyn Heights

Notes

Organized by: Council Members David Yassky, Letitia James and Bill DeBlasio and the Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Heights Association, Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, Clinton Hill Association, Cobble Hill Association, Concord Village, Fort Greene Association, Park Slope Civic Council, Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council

Rumor Mill - Congestion Pricing Announcement

From a tipster - tune in to New York 1:

The Mayor's Task Force is announcing
their version of Congestion Pricing in
a press conference this afternoon at 3PM.

Residential Parking Permits Meeting 2/4 - Save the Date!

Coming up on February 4th is a major meeting on Residential Parking Permits (RPP). Concerned about park and ride commuters circling the blocks and adding traffic to your neighborhood? Worried about overflow parking if congestion pricing comes to pass? Sick of commuters taking up residential spaces?

Get yourself to this meeting.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 4TH FROM 7-9
ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
(Remsen Street between Court and Clinton)

Hosted by Residential Permit Parking Group composed of reps of many neighborhood associations including, of course, the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association
Moderated by Jane McGroarty
RPP group presentation by Joanne Simon and Michael Cairl
DOT Reps: Delila Hall and Commissioner scheduled to come at this point, complete names to be developed
Q & A period: Moderated by J McGroarty

See you there!

Errant Zoning: Parking Requirements

Via Streetsblog, the NYT ran an OpEd I missed over the holidays: The High Price of Parking. It's not what you might think.

In most of New York City, a developer who puts up a new building is required to provide a minimum number of parking spaces. These requirements were first put in place in 1950, when the prevailing wisdom was that the automobile would be the transportation mode of the future. . . . .

But off-street parking requirements have themselves become an expensive problem: developers must devote money and space to parking lots and garages, or not build at all. This limits the supply of housing, retail and office space, creating higher rents for residents and businesses, and higher prices for consumer goods. . . . .

The parking requirement also creates a subsidy for cars at the expense of the economy and environment. By forcing developers to provide parking, we are making it easier to drive. In New York, the public transit capital of America, this is disgraceful. . . . . Eliminating the parking requirements will reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and it will free acres of land for new housing, stores and offices. It will allow all developers to build more affordable housing and encourage more convenient, transit-friendly retail and commercial destinations.

This rings true for me. And it brings me back to a point I read in the Union-Sackett notes from their meeting with the Clarrett Group over 340 Court Street. Is it really appropriate to require a minimum of 70 new parking spaces in this development?

I understand that parking in the neighborhood is tight as it is. But creating more parking attracts more cars, just as building more highways creates more traffic.

Illegal Curb Cuts - End the Madness

You've seen it. The New York Times even did an article with pictures last year of the ones on 4th Place. Certain individuals think they are so special and wonderful, that they deserve to pave over the courtyards (which they don't own) in front of their houses and park their cars in them. Meanwhile, the neighbors and the community pay for it with the cheapened, degraded appearance of the block. But Gary! You ask. Isn't that one less car on the streets, jockeying for a space? NO! Because now you are tricked into thinking you'll get a ticket for blocking a legal driveway . . . and parking enforcement will probably be fooled, too.

This will be a matter of some discussion, I imagine, at Thursday's CB6 transportation Committee hearing. Details below:

Dec 20 Transportation

Presentation and discussion of Intro 619, a local law to amend the administrative code for the city of New York, in relation to eliminating professional certification of plans submitted to the Department of Buildings regarding curb cuts and requiring notification of the Community Boards and Council Members upon receipt by the Department of Buildings of an application for a curb cut. Presentation and discussion of Intro 620, a local law to amend the administrative code for the city of New York, in relation to requiring the illegally created curb cuts liable for penalties, requiring the Department of Transportation to restore illegally created curb cuts and providing for the reimbursement to the department for the cost of the work. Presentation and discussion of two new Revocable Consent applications submitted to the Department of Transportation on behalf of P.S. 67 Development LLC for two planted area structures to be erected in front of new buildings at 370 and 372 12th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

Cobble Hill Community Meeting Room 250 Baltic Street Brooklyn, NY 11201

6:30 PM

Congestion Pricing & Parking Reform Make a Lovely Couple

Regular readers know that I have an obsession about coupling the proposed congestion pricing plan with improved mass transit (e.g., enhanced F/V/G service on the Culver Line).

There is another ingredient that should be baked into this cake, and that is parking reform. First off, rampant placard abuse must be curtailed. Second, many placards which are currently legitimate should be eliminated; there are way too many city employees today with a license to violate the parking laws. Lastly, residential parking permits should be established in certian outer borough neighborhoods to discourage "park and ride" practices that bring overcrowding and excess traffic to local streets.

Streetsblog has got a good post up toda on parking reform that's worth checking out.