A Plan to Force Parking Freeloaders to Pay
By Dan Rivoli
Should free meter parking on Sundays say its prayers?
An Upper West Side business owner is trying to eliminate free Sunday parking in front of meters in the neighborhood—a practice the City Council instituted in 2005 after outer borough religious leaders and their driving parishioners complained about having to leave Mass to feed the meter. Supporters of the free Sunday parking called the situation “pay to pray.” Read more
NEW BIKE LANES COMING
Bicyclists should be celebrating, now that Community Board 7 voted in favor of the Department of Transportation’s plan to install protected bicycle lanes on Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.
Proponents say that protected lanes offer bicyclists a safe route, while pedestrians will see less bike-riding on the sidewalk. The extra lane would also break the street into shorter segments, making it easier to traverse for senior citizens and those who have trouble walking.
At Board 7’s Oct. 6 meeting, throngs of bicycling advocates young and old came out to support the new bike lanes.
“There was a groundswell of support for this issue not only from cyclists, but from seniors, children and pedestrians,” said Lisa Sladkus, an organizer for Upper West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign. “It gives cyclists a very safe place to be and little incentive to be on the sidewalk.”
The board, by a vote of 28-7 in favor of the project, called for the department to create a plan for a “class 1” lane, which is separated from traffic by a barrier, possibly parked cars.
But neighborhood business interests are skeptical about the new lanes. Shop owners have complained that bike lanes, especially ones that are protected, block off truck loading and unloading zones and restrict parking for customers.
Peter Arndtsen, head of the Columbus-Amsterdam Business Improvement District, supports the bike lanes, but urged city officials to heed business concerns when designing the new space.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for both the Department of Transportation and Community Board 7 to really rise to the occasion and meet with local businesses to come up with something that works for everybody,” Arndtsen said.
Extell Traffic Plan
Traffic and transportation were the focal point of a July 20 meeting convened by Community Board 7’s Riverside Center Working Group.
Riverside Center, a development that includes several residential buildings, a public school, hotel, auto dealership and two levels of underground parking, is being planned for the area between West 59th and 61st streets from West End Avenue to the Hudson River.
Philip Habib, a traffic consultant for Extell Development Company, said that the area will lose about 600 parking spaces Read more
Residents Question Ticket Blitz
Howard Stokar stood outside his home on West End Avenue, between West 102nd and 103rd streets, eyeing a prime parking spot. Spaces like this don’t come along every day, and rarely do they appear when he needs to unload groceries from his car or get picked up by a friend. Which is why, he explained, he often double parks for a few minutes. Unfortunately for him, in those moments he is likely to get a $115 ticket. Read more
