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NYC DOT

Alternate-side-of-the-street parking will be restored in Park Slope on July 14, weeks earlier than area drivers had hoped.

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NYC DOT

Alternate-side-of-the-street parking will be suspended in a wide swath of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill on July 7, allowing drivers there to experience the same parking holiday, and dirtier streets, that Park Slope residents have enjoyed all summer.

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Car owners in a wide swath of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Gowanus will not have to move their cars for alternate-side-of-the-street parking for the next six to eight weeks — but at the same time, a similar suspension on parking rules in Park Slope will end on Monday after eight weeks.

As in Park Slope, the change is necessary so that the Department of Transportation can install more than 2,000 signs explaining new street-cleaning regulations that will reduce “No parking” times from three hours to 90-minutes on days when streets are being cleaned.

The good news is that Department of Sanitation street sweepers will finally return to the Slope, ending what some residents called “The Summer of Stink” that resulted because no one had to move his car since May 19.

Round two will affect most streets within Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Gowanus (see map). The borders are Court Street, Fourth Avenue, Warren Street, St. Marks Place, the Gowanus Expressway and 14th Street.

Residents were excited about the prospect of not moving their cars the rest of the summer.

“It’s always nice to have breaks like that,” said Mary Butterworth, 28, of Carroll Gardens.

Her friend, Tamar Kisilevitz, quickly chimed in: “I’m going to come from Clinton Hill and park here! It’ll be great.”

Kidding aside, many residents of Park Slope complained that the parking holiday encouraged just such cheating. Many cars were left on Slope streets for the duration of the alternate-side suspension.

And amid reports that Slope streets were indeed filthier during the suspension, lifetime Carroll Gardens resident Andrew Esposito, 45, wasn’t concerned: “You can’t have everything in life,” he said. “You don’t have to move your car, so you should clean. It’s less stressful than hunting for a spot.”

While Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill drivers prepared for their parking holiday, the Department of Transportation began asking Park Slopers what they thought of their two-month hiatus. The DOT posted a survey on its Web site asking residents to describe whether it was easier or harder to park during the alternate-side suspension and whether streets were cleaner or dirtier.

Residents don’t have to wait until the DOT crunches its numbers: The Brooklyn Paper’s own survey of its readers indicated that 40 percent thought parking was easier during the hiatus, as opposed to 23 percent who thought it was harder and 36 percent who thought it was the same. And 70 percent thought streets were dirtier, while only 6 percent thought they were cleaner.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper