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6 COURIER LIFE, MAY 1-7, 2020
Short-changed
City meters still in effect as parking on
residential streets remains congested
Locals want metered parking on pause during the pandemic. Photo by Jessica Parks
BY JESSICA PARKS
Despite long stretches of shuttered
businesses along the city’s main thoroughfares,
and low turnover for parking
spaces amid the shelter-in-place
orders, city offi cials have refused to
halt parking meter collections — perplexing
locals who claim the situation
is unbearably “horrendous.”
“Parking is horrendous around
here,” said Mike Kieran of his Bensonhurst
neighborhood. “And now
that everybody is staying home and
more people are calling in sick, it’s
getting really bad around here.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio has suspended
alternate-side parking on city streets
until April 28, after fi rst calling it off
on March 17, but city offi cials have
shown no intention of halting meter
collection.
Instead, on April 17, city transportation
honchos announced that meters
would temporarily accept payment
using the nationwide phone
application ParkMobile, in addition
to payments on its own app,
ParkNYC, in an effort to encourage
drivers against a physical interaction
with the meter.
“DOT is asking all New Yorkers
who can to switch to Pay-By-Cell,
which will reduce the need for physical
cash transactions at our 14,000
parking meters. Contactless Pay-By-
Cell reduces exposure risk for the
public and our workforce,” said Department
of Transportation Commissioner
Polly Trottenberg. “Please
help us reduce the need to physically
service parking meters and collect,
sanitize and securely store cash during
this crisis.”
Transportation offi cials said in a
statement that metered parking enforces
curb turnover which provides
better access to essential businesses
like grocery stores, pharmacies and
medical providers.
Meanwhile, borough residents lamented
to Brooklyn Paper last month
that, as residents continue sheltering
in place, parked cars are mostly staying
put, leaving neighborhoods more
congested than ever — something,
locals like Kieran suggested, could
be alleviated by allowing long-term
parking on metered commercial corridors.
Kieran lives off of Bensohurst’s
18th Avenue, where he said a majority
of businesses are closed with designated
parking spaces that could take
on some overfl ow from the packed
residential roads.
“The pharmacies and grocery
stores are only on certain blocks,”
he told Brooklyn Paper. “And on the
rest of the blocks, you have about a
half-mile of closed stores.”
Gravesend Assemblyman William
Colton has called for the suspension
of metered parkings and launched an
online petition on March 26 that has
received 374 signatures as of Friday.
“Now that many stay home for
their safety, parking is scarce. So this
becomes an issue, constantly going
out to feed the meters,” Colton said.
“We are in a crisis and the city should
not be worried about making money
— peoples’ lives are at stake!”
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