Brooklynites already lamenting the fast-approaching end of summer have even less reason to look forward to fall because officials are hiking fees for metered parking across the city, beginning in Kings County on Sept. 4.
News of the fare increases could be described by one word, according to a local driver.
“It sucks,” said Marciello Pantano from behind the wheel of his car parked on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens.
Motorists who park their rides at metered spots in Downtown, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill will face the stiffest hike, with rates doubling from $1 to $2 per hour.
More-modest increases will hit select streets in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, Borough Park, Ditmas Park, Bath Beach, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, and Brighton Beach, where hourly rates will go from $1 to $1.50.
And parking at all other metered spots in the borough will cost $1.25 per hour, up from $1.
The fee spikes are the first to take effect in five years, and are an effort to free up parking spaces in some of Brooklyn’s most-congested neighborhoods, according to Department of Transportation spokeswoman Lolita Avila, who said the increases bring local rates in line with those in other cities across the country, including Boston, where parking costs $1.25 per hour, and Chicago, where hourly prices range from $2 to $6.50.
But many Brooklyn motorists were perfectly content with New York City lagging behind other metropolises when it came to meter rates, according to another driver, who said the hike’s announcement blindsided him.
“I don’t love it,” said Pete D’Angelo, whose ride was parked on Smith Street near DeGraw Street. “I don’t agree with the price being raised.”
And the meter hikes aren’t the city’s only attempt to open up parking spaces on borough streets — earlier this year, officials set aside 100 spots across North Brooklyn for rental companies’ vehicles in an effort they claim will ultimately reduce the amount of cars stored on local roads.
— with Ben Verde
