Fort Greene and Clinton Hill will get reduced street cleaning — and with it less of the alternate-side-of-the-street shuffle for drivers — after the city completes a six- to eight-week suspension of alternate-side parking regulations that begins on Monday.
As it did last summer in Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Red Hook, the city is opting to fully suspend alternate-side parking while it updates roughly 2,000 “No parking” signs to reduce the hours when parked cars must make way for street sweepers.
The two communities have long requested that the city reduce residential street cleaning — and, concurrently, no-parking hours — but some motorists aren’t exactly dancing in the streets even if they now will only have to move their car once a week, instead of twice.
“We’re in favor of the change, but my excitement is tempered by the fear that non-neighborhood residents could park here for long periods,” said Paul Palazzo, president of the Fort Greene Association. “There might be an increase in interloper parking.”
Even on streets where residents have to move four times a week — twice for each side of the street — the hassle is seen as the last line of defense against outsiders snatching up coveted spots.
“People are territorial about their parking spots,” said Ursula Hegewisch, who lives on S. Elliott Place, which is swept four times per week. “With our proximity to the trains, they look forward to alternate-side parking. Ours is from 9:30 am to 11 am, [and] that timing means fewer people can park here and ride the subway to work.”
Others were worried that streets would get dirty, despite a promise from the Department of Sanitation to increase sweeps of commercial corridors and intensify enforcement of litter rules.
“I’m fine with [the parking change] — as long as the garbage is picked up,” said Brian Robinson, the owner of Gnarly Vines wine shop on Myrtle Avenue.
The area affected by the upcoming enforcement hiatus is bounded by Fulton Street on the south, Flushing Avenue on the north, Classon Avenue on the east, and parts of Flatbush Avenue, Myrtle Avenue and Navy Street on the west.
