A key neighborhood panel voted against a city proposal to change alternate-side-of-the-street parking schedules in Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene and Downtown for fear that streets would become filthy parking lots for out-of-towners.
The 6-3 vote by the Community Board 2 Transportation Committee last week comes as many other Brooklyn neighborhoods are actually moving in the opposite direction — reducing the number of “No parking” hours. Drivers from Park Slope to Red Hook now only have to move their cars to accommodate street sweepers for 90 minutes instead of three hours once a week — a change made this summer.
But Community Board 2 doesn’t want to go that route.
“[These streets] will become a parking lot for Manhattan — we’re really close to the subways, and I’m concerned about garbage,” said board member and Boerum Hill resident Sidney Meyer, at the meeting.
“Right now, the parking we have works relatively well, and it is my personal opinion that there would be dirtier streets, more traffic not less, and a complete disaster,” he added.
The proposed changes in Community Board 2 include reducing metered street times to half-hour windows from one hour, and cleaning residential streets once per week instead of twice, as is currently done in Fort Greene and Boerum Hill.
Commercial street cleaning would remain the same.In Brooklyn Heights, street sweepers already come once per week per side of the street, but there is no parking on narrow streets on one side from 8 am to 6 pm. Following community uproar, the city stated in writing that it would not change that time from 8:30 am to 1 pm, Community Board 2 District Manager Rob Perris said.
Not everyone was opposed, however.
“I understand [a change] is tough for people who use cars frequently, but I say let’s stick with the plan — we’re fortunate to have this offered to us,” said longtime Boerum Hill resident and committee member Bill Harris. “Our streets are clean enough to justify cleaning once per week.”
Another board member, Jon Quint, said he supports the plan because it’ll make parking easier.
“[Alternate-side-of-the-street] is a price of living in the city, but we don’t have to suffer with it twice a week,” asked Quint, a Concord Village resident.
The full CB2 will vote on the city’s proposal on Oct. 7 at Polytechnic Institute’s Dibner Auditorium (5 Metrotech Center, Jay Street at the Myrtle Avenue Promende). For info, call (718) 596-5410.
