NYC parking has become a scary ‘bloodsport’ — and locals are demanding this drastic change

[Kamaji]

NYC parking has become a scary ‘bloodsport’ — and locals are demanding this drastic change

By Alex Mitchell
July 22, 2022

They’re taking to the street.

Nearly 1,000 New Yorkers with cars are calling on the city to change the cutthroat parking game — for good.

In May, Renee Baruch, a retired lawyer living on the Upper West Side, launched NYC Resident Parking. The coalition is trying to convince the city to dedicate a majority or large portion of spaces on residential roads exclusively for parking for nearby residents. Several hundred locals have signed on to the cause.

“It’s not a novel idea. New York is behind the times with this, as almost every major city has a residential parking program,” Baruch told The Post, citing nearby Hoboken, New Jersey, as well as larger US cities Boston and Philadelphia, in addition to London and Paris.

But in the Big Apple, the idea of dedicating street parking to residents has never quite caught on. It was floated in 2018 by then-northern Manhattan City Councilman-turned-Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, but it wasn’t approved by the de Blasio administration.

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“It’s kind of this bloodsport to get back into the space. I’ve been there, and it is scary,” Baruch said, mentioning that her car has gotten dinged up by sloppy parallel parkers over the years.

And space has only gotten tighter. From August to October 2020, there was a 76% rise in Manhattan car registrations and a 45% increase in Brooklyn vehicles compared to that time period the year prior, the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, subway ridership is down to just 59% of pre-pandemic levels, according to amNY.

Baruch complains that nowadays, she often has to park a good 20 blocks away from her home. Once, she even had to take a spot all the way by the East River and Uber back over 30 blocks and several avenues, she said.

Part of the problem, she said, is all of the out-of-state vehicles hogging valuable street real estate on the Upper West Side.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2022/07/22/local-drivers-call-on-nyc-to-create-resident-permit-parking/