The city will not be raising meter rates in Park Slope — along Fifth Avenue at least — the Department of Transportation told this paper this week.
As a result of conversations with the community, the DOT has shelved a plan that could have seen the price of parking climb to $3.00 an hour.
Last week, Park Slope merchants sat down with DOT officials, airing concerns about a city policy they fear might cripple business.
At issue is a six-month pilot program called Park Smart initiated by the DOT last May. The program, which is in effect between Sackett Street and Third Street, and Seventh Avenue between Lincoln Place and Sixth Street, raises parking rates to $1.50 an hour, up 50 cents from what motorists are accustomed to paying. The program seeks to free up parking spaces by making it costly to park during peak times, Monday through Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m. The DOT said the pilot program has produced encouraging initial results.
After the meeting, business owners like Irene Lo Re expressed skepticism that the city would listen to them — which it appears, for now, that it has.
“I just got the feeling that they will do whatever they want to do and inform us after the fact,” said Lo Re, president of the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District and owner of Aunt Suzie’s Restaurant on Fifth Avenue. “They are of the opinion that the meters should go higher and we are still opposed to it,” she said at the time.
The DOT was discussing increasing the hourly rate to $3, but was also weighing increases to $2 or $2.50 per hour. On Seventh Avenue, the agency said it planned to continue to work with local businesses on ways to encourage turnover while decreasing congestion. The agency has told this paper that it has not yet received a letter of complaint about its pilot program, and will survey drivers and merchants about their experience in October and then decide whether to make the change permanent. The city’s goals, the agency insisted, are not at odds with local merchants.
