In an increasingly densely-populated place like NYC, local government is facing imminent pressure to relieve parking-related stress and congestion pricing for residents who are left with few places to leave their cars in their own neighborhoods.
City councilwomen Lynn Schulman and Carmen De La Rosa reintroduced bills last week proposing a residential parking permit system for constituents in their respective districts.
According to Schulman (D-Queens), the proposal arose out of community complaints mainly about outsiders leaving their cars for the day to get on the Long Island Rail Road, whose tracks cuts through the neighborhood of Kew Gardens where many people live.
As a result, residents are left with the parking scraps, and sometimes have to circle their blocks for as long as an hour scavenging for a spot.
This same issue is rampant in Northern Manhattan, where drivers from New Jersey coming off the George Washington Bridge regularly park their cars in Washington Heights and Inwood, areas that would be a part of the proposed parking system.
Under Schulman’s bill, the city Transportation Department would be charged with creating the parking permit system, and designating which sections of the neighborhood would require a permit and what times and days of the week permitting would go into effect, along with setting a fee structure.
The bill would leave 20% of parking spaces available to nonresidents and issue 90-minute short-term parking spots in the area.
De La Rosa’s bill, which would mandate state government to authorize a program, would cover areas between 60th St. and the tip of Inwood.
Though Council members have pushed for these permit systems before and been denied, these two councilwomen assert they are striving to get their bills off the ground and are determined to do something about the absurd amounts of vehicle congestion in residential areas.
