Patrons cruising along Bay Ridge’s busiest strips will have twice the shopping time by spring.
The city will install two-hour meters along Third and Fifth avenues in April, satisfying merchants of the mostly mom-and-pop stores in the area who complained that one-hour parking was killing business.
“It’s been terrible — an hour doesn’t give you much time to do anything,” said Joseph Loccisano, owner of Rocco’s Pizzeria on Fifth Avenue between 78th and 79th streets, who brought the issue up at a Community Board 10 meeting last fall and then gathered 1,000 signatures to petition the city.
Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Gastel said the parking measures — already in effect along other area blocks — would take place from 90th to 72nd streets on Fifth Avenue, and on Third Avenue from 95th to 88th streets.
The extension means that women getting their hair done won’t have to run out in the street with their rollers in to feed the meter, and drivers get an extra hour to conduct their business — a win-win situation for the neighborhood, according to Loccisano.
“It gives people more time to spend on Third and Fifth avenues,” he said.
Reach reporter Dan MacLeod at dmacleod@cnglocal.com or by calling him at (718) 260-4507. You can also follow his Tweets at twitter.com/dsmacleod.
