This is an op-ed written by Carl Mahaney, the Director of Streetopia Upper West Side.
Upper West Siders can all agree: it’s time to rethink how we use the curb. Whether you’re a car owner looking for scarce parking, an elderly neighbor needing a little more time to cross the street, or a delivery worker just trying to do your job, the current chaos at the curb isn’t working for anyone. The New York City Department of Transportation thinks so too. That’s why they’ve chosen the Upper West Side for a pilot program to consider the many uses (and users) of our scarce curb space, and to begin to modernize how that space is managed. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that we should all embrace.
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Community District 7 is one of the densest residential neighborhoods in the country, with truly mixed use blocks, quiet residential side streets, and bustling commercial corridors. We enjoy some of the best public transit in the city; over a dozen bus routes traverse the neighborhood — an accessibility lifeline for our seniors — and there are major hubs for seven subway lines. It’s no wonder that Upper West Siders overwhelmingly prefer walking, biking or public transit to get where they’re going. Only 6% of people commute by car, and approximately 73% of households don’t even own one — that’s one of the lowest vehicle ownership rates in the country. Despite all this, our streets aren’t working nearly as efficiently or safely as they should be.
The idea of the Smart Curbs pilot program is to make curbs more responsive to New Yorkers’ actual needs. Designated loading zones could be placed in high-delivery areas so that the same truck isn’t always double parked. Trash bags could move to the curb lane, freeing up precious sidewalk space. Rain gardens could green blocks and help prevent the flooding that’s becoming more common with intense storms. Pick-up/drop-off zones for car services would allow passengers to get in and out using the sidewalk rather than having to walk into the street first. Safe, protected bike lanes would allow families to bike together with confidence. Designated bus lanes could ensure speedier service to, from, and around the neighborhood.
All these potential changes would make the Upper West Side a better, more inclusive place for everyone. Rethinking our curbs doesn’t mean that on-street parking would disappear – in all likelihood, a great deal of curbspace parking will remain. But this pilot is our chance to explore how that space can solve other needs, too. It’s a chance to consider who might benefit from this public space that isn’t able to right now.
It’s also worth noting that the small minority of car owners who park on the street stand to gain just as much as anyone else. Car owners are also pedestrians and benefit from things like daylighting and curb extensions; they bike their children to school, too, and need protected lanes; double-parked delivery trucks inconvenience and endanger everyone on the street.
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Some business owners worry about losing nearby parking, but the truth is that most customers arrive at businesses on sidewalks, in bike lanes, or on public transit; trading a few spots for a more efficient, welcoming streetscape will only benefit local shops. Rebalancing the curb doesn’t transfer the exclusive benefit from one group to another, it enhances convenience, accessibility, and safety for everyone.
The impacts of these changes would be transformative. Imagine a future where your kids, grandkids, great-grandkids know the joy and independence of biking around the city; where loading zones and micro-hubs have significantly cut down on emissions from trucks circling the block resulting in cleaner air; where the curb is home to so many reliable bus routes, safe bike lanes, and convenient car share options that we gladly unburden ourselves from costly and time-consuming car ownership. This future is possible, and the Smart Curbs pilot is the first step toward realizing it.
Upper West Siders should be honored that the city has entrusted this neighborhood to lead the way. Being a New Yorker means sharing space, caring for your community, and celebrating diversity. The Smart Curbs pilot is our chance to do that; to help shape a sustainable and equitable city, on the Upper West Side and across the five boroughs. What if we could solve everyday annoyances and entrenched issues, just by making small changes to our curb? By listening to each other, considering everyone in the community, and working together, we have the chance to help answer that question.
And my comment remains the same one I’ve been making for years – – – why are we the only major city, apparently in the entire world, that doesn’t have a RESIDENTS PARKING PERMIT system in place? It seems to be not only a necessity to prevent parking abuse by non taxpayers, but also a clear and important factor in any curb-use reform.
Residence parking only would be a great burden on anyone working in our neighborhoods who can’t afford to live here so they drive in and out schlepping big tools.
Residential permit parking is not resident-only. It usually limits the time that non-residents can park or restricts them to parking at meters. It’s a great idea and I wish NY would implement it. It might help crack down on all the NY drivers who illegally register their cars in Pennsylvania to avoid NY insurance requirements.
Yes this is true!
I agree 100%.
as long as i can “reserve” a space for myself in the street as well for however i want to use it. i am a resident that does not own a car, my family does not have a car. why should we miss out on some extra valuable stteet space? i’ll pay for a permit if it will give me a space to store my personal property in public with police protection.
Of course you can store your personal property in the street with the eqivalent protection as cars.
Good luck!
please show me where i can do this legally and get a share of the same space car drivers get to store their personal property.
It’s downstairs from you apartment (If you ever leave it). Same as cars.
i am incessantly outside walking my dog or riding my bike or any of the other things people do outside. thanks.
clearly i cannot do as you say though on the street and use a car space to my own leisure. not sure what point you are trying to make saying something otherwise.
“The point I was trying to make” is that cars parking at the curb are not stealing from you. In the same way that the newly installed pickleball courts in Riverside Park are not stealing anything from me. I am unable to use them, but I don’t begrudge those who do.
Not a word about how it will impact those of us who handed to have a car because it will make parking on the street even more difficult for the residents. This is yet another program to force residents to give up cars. In the process it will make more tax payers to leave the city.
For the record, “Streetopia UWS” is one of about 4 sister companies and a lobbyig group started by a sleazy conspiracist named Mark Gorton.
We all know that donald trump is a sleazy businessman because, even before 2020, he paid out 27 million in fines and settlements for such frauds as “trump university” and his family “foundation.” Well, Mr. Gorton has paid out 200 million plus for two shady businesses, “Limewire” which was permanently enjoined by the courts (shades of trump’s current problems) and Tower Research, a high frequency trading outfit that set an SEC record for highest fine of its type in 2019. Yet he has enough money to fund these astroturfed companies. .
And Mr. Gorton also has the time to publicly advance rather amazing ideas, like the one about generations of the Bush family being behind a cabal that, among other things killed the Kennedy Brothers. More recently he’s decided that the person we all need to lead is is RFK Jr, whose conspiracy mongering is pretty well established.
Why is that relevant? Because the same degree of honesty and candor that brings us such bad business practices is at work in the “studies” and the “surveys” underlying the work of Mr. Gorton’s conglomerate. He’s made it plain that the goal is to ban cars from Manhattan. He likes to bike and, as a near billionaire, he can afford the costs when he wants to put his family in a limo..
But if you don’t have a car but see the benefit of having friends or family being able to visit? Or want the option of being able to park a rental car every now and again? Or of getting one because as your kids grow you might need one as many of my neighbors do? Maybe the “only 27% of households own cars” thing isn’t the bottom line?
I walk, I ride buses and subways all the time. And I’ve biked the streets of NYC for 60 years. I live in a building with a “loading zone” right in front and one on every block around me for 1/2 mile. They aren’t used. Not at least by delivery vehicles. And the bike lanes? Abused by motorized vehicles that make it harder for me to ride, and totally unnecessary on the crosstown side streets which are quiet and safe when ridden the legal direction. We need a common sense approach that makes streets safer, for all. We need more enforcement, as against all types of violations by all modes of travel.
What we don’t need is an astroturfed operation giving us propaganda.
And if I had one question of the author it’s this: Are you comfortable living off the gains of a guy whose multi millions are the result of stealing copyrighted music (Limewire) and stock manipulation (Tower)?
Thank you for speaking the truth! Mark Gorton and others like him are destroying our cities for their own personal gains – and please take note that they travel by car! Their car is ok but yours isn’t? Like all the recent years politicians they have funded to do their bidding while others stay asleep …..so sad the greatest city in the world isn’t great anymore for the likes of these billionaires funding politicians for their own gain…, young people we need you to come out and vote!
wow, thanks for revealing this….. also, bike lands on side street would be a disaster because it would bring zooming elextric bikes. I”m an already challenged senior crossing the avenues…
I can spot Propagada when I see it.
you mean how you deserve your free on street parking?
All tax payers contribute to “stuff” they don’t use. I don’t have kids in the public school system, should I make the same comment regarding kids who get a free education because I pay my taxes? What about all the social activities (which are wasted by the way) … I don’t use them, so should I complain about it?
This whole concept of street parking being “free” is a complete red herring .and an easy comment to make … nothing is free. Car owners pay registration fees, license fees and, most importantly, gas taxes. Did you know the gas tax funds the maintenance of all the road infrastructure in the US (including the streets that the public buses run on)? So the car owners ARE PAYING for A LOT of stuff that YOU use for FREE.
car owners don’t pay even close to the cost of actually having a car. sorry. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2022/02/04/lifetime-cost-of-small-car-689000-society-subsidises-this-ownership-with-275000/?sh=2ef535e16398
taxes don’t support parking.
an education benefits society. you having a spot to put your car at your convenience when 75% of you neighbors then have to deal with your lifestyle choices is selfish and parasitic.
own you car all you want. let it be subsidized. but storing it should be no ones problem but your own.
That’s your opinion on the education and social benefits.
My opinion is that if you look at how much OF MY TAX money is spent on these initiatives and you do a non-partisan analysis of the results, you will see that it is a MONUMENTAL waste of tax payer money. How many kids reach high school and can’t even read? How much money was spent on it? Think about that.
So stop imposing your value systems on me ,.. I have a different perspective to you. My only point was that parking on the street is not “FREE” as everyone keeps saying AND that people who use the roads (e.g., bikers) do so FREE of charge without contributing to the cost of the infrastructure, unlike car owners.
I don’t park a car in NYC, so stop your attacks! Your disinformation is apparent.
would love to hear how this comment “attacked” you.
OK, I will explain your bad manners to you in the hope that you can learn civility.
When you wrote “you mean how you deserve your free on street parking?” you implied that I display entitlement or privilege. I have replied several times that I DO NOT PARK IN NYC. You assumed the worst of me so you could reply with nastiness. You were just plain wrong, but insist that you are right. Sad, misinformed, low information. Try using facts, they are more productive.
Delete this propaganda. We need more residential parking, not less.
sorry we don’t need more residential parking. you might, but the 75% of the neighborhood who doesn’t have cars does not need more parking. we need to take back the street for ourselves.
You’re mistaken if you think that people who don’t have cars don’t want to let others drive here. Many do because cars bring their families and friends to them. Others respect their neighbors and area workers who need them.
cool so then we don’t need every single space they currently have and we can scale back parking so every body gets a fair share of the curb side use.
Do you have an answer that isn’t a total non sequitor?
sure, whats the question?
others respect their neighbors by not selfishly driving when living in a transit rich neighborhood.
Calling this “propaganda” is missing the point. We need to re-imagine our streets for a variety of uses and deprioritize the private vehicles in exchange for the many other critical uses of the limited space we all need. We need a balance, and have become accustomed to “free” street parking…and now it’s time to reallocate the space for deliveries, pedestrians, bicycles and open space. The point is to update our thinking.
Laure, you have fallen for the propoganda and don’t even know it. Propoganda is powerful and works.
sorry but you’re the one who is victim to the propaganda of car culture. why should the 75% of people without cars at all have to deal with your car on the street. its wrong. your car is your problem and no one else’s. things should be like japan where you cannot purchase a vehicle without a place to privately store it.
I do not park a car in NYC, so stop.
you avoided the question. if not you, then why anyone else?
You attacked me twice with:
“sorry but you’re the one who is victim to the propaganda of car culture.”
and
“its wrong. your car is your problem and no one else’s.”
Both false, which I corrected for you.
Now you attack me with ” you avoided the question.” AND NOW EXPECT DISCOURSE???
Learn some civility, and then I can explain these things that you can’t currently grasp.
none of those comments are attacks.
either way your feelings on this are obvious.
i’ve been civil.
funny how you can tell someone they are a propaganda victim those but its not an attack when you do it. at least i apologized.
I have yet to see your apology, but I have seen you write: ““its wrong. your car is your problem and no one else’s.”
I HAVE NO CAR IN NYC.
Low information people are the greater risk because they fall for the propoganda with enthusiasm.
you even quoted me saying sorry,
“sorry but you’re the one who is victim to the propaganda of car culture.”
its a collective “YOU” not a personal you. holy cow. your reactions seem extremely paranoid and sensitive.
George Orwell must have had you in mind when writing 1984.
the point is to take back the street for everyone. not the few people who selfishly believe that the street is for their car and nothing else.
Carl, this is certainly a compelling piece of advocacy for the DOT, but it paints an overly-rosy picture of an initiative that creates a “double whammy” to the Upper West Side in light of (a) the loss of over 400 parking spots along CPW); and (b) the soon-to-be-implimented Congestion Pricing, which will doubtless send hundreds of motorists from outer Boroughs and New Jersey trolling for and taking parking spots north of 60th Street. Encouraging us to be “honored” that the program is being piloted here is, at best, hyperbole. The Upper West Side certainly doesn’t strike me as THE place in Manhattan where curbs are needlessly impeded. I am a pedestrian first like everyone else, and I struggle to understand what the urgent issue is. Additionally, as an attorney, I find it unduly concerning that the DOT is notably vague about what this means for the UWS specifically. Based on my attendance at one of the discussions on this matter, I gather this is because the DOT itself doesn’t really know. I assume, based on your enthusiasm, that you live here on the UWS. In such case, I’d be interested to know what you have given no examples whatever of a “curb” in particular that needs this safety measure implemented. Finally, this program turns a completely blind eye to the flagrant disregard for the safety of others so many cyclists example day in and day out. This hysteria about “protecting” bike lanes more and more puzzles me, as there is never attendant talk about protecting the pedestrians (and vehicles) the cyclists fail to yield to.
Aglaia wroteL “I find it unduly concerning that the DOT is notably vague about what this means for the UWS specifically.”
The vagueness is intentional. The DOT intends to turn the decision over what will be done with the curbs over to the Columbus Avenue Buiness Improvement District. Their plan is to displace neighborhood residents’ parking with metered parking for their customers and more dining in the street. You can look forward to a city mall, with daytrippers everywhere.
This is all part of the Plan for The New Upper West Side. My family has lived in NYC for 5 generations and, I expect will go no further here.
Yes, we are also 5th generation Manhattanites. This is the end of the middle class. We hung on because there were Mitchell Llama housing with garage space. Now there are luxury buildings (W103 & Broadway) with no garage space.
Most of our subway stations have no elevators. Only a small percent of our bus stops have shelters. The likes of Peter Frishauf, a wealthy invester and financial supporter of Transportation Alternatives, told an elderly friend if she wanted to leave the city she should “rent a car.”
Transportation Alternatives and its various “front” groups (Open Plans, Families for Safe Street, Street Films, Streetsblog, Street Lab) are in all major cities across the US.
“A decade ago, Uber, the global ride-hailing giant, …flooded Manhattan streets with tens of thousands of new cars with one passenger each, bringing gridlock to the worst levels on record.” The Life & Death of American Cities, Nicole Gelinas NYT 7/30/2023
Our tax dollars are paying for potted plants, boulders and redesign of streets under the so called Open Streets program, including paid for “cultural activities”.
Private car ownership is not the problem. Lack of investment in all of the US in public transportation is the problem. Making us relient on for profit modes of transportation when curb space is privatized is a land grab. The last piece of real estate where corporations can make a profit.
Could not agree more! This is an opinion/pr piece for the hydra-headed Trans Alt lobby. Trans Alt who give the DOT Commissioner his marching orders. But DOT and the Mayor think we don’t know it. I was at the charade called for on the UWS by the DOT to present their “pilot program” for the UWS to the community. Mark Gorton was also there. I asked the DOT if it wouldn’t be more genuine if they just had Citibike (Lyft), Amazon (building LARGE lockers ON our sidewalks) or all the bike share, car share and food delivery companies do the presentation as this really was not about government. It was about how to surrender our public streets, sidewalks and parking to the private sector for private profit. I mean, why not Central Park? Amazon lockers in Central Park would be just as great in the logic of this group.
There is nothing moderate about this Trans Alt incursion into our communities. It is a well financed push by the unelected lobbyist to take away the freedoms of the majority of New Yorkers. We have miles and miles of frequently empty bike lanes that have usurped our right to park, or have access to the sidewalk for a taxi or an ambulance-they are now double parked outside the bike lane. We have nothing but dangerous obstacles to pedestrian safety be it now chronically unregulated e-vehicles which observe no traffic laws and injure our neighbors and ourselves by crashing into us and sending us to the ER. We have Citibike kiosks everywhere. So much for the wants or needs of the community!
This is a city that cannot even protect its own citizens from the unbridled forces of billionaire companies who are capturing more and more space and power because it’s simply not their priority.
Why are they not testing this out in lower Manhattan where they are already planning to reduce cars/traffic? To do this right above the congestion pricing zone makes no sense. Also, how about encouraging businesses like Amazon to rent out one of the many empty retail spaces in the neighborhood as a distribution center instead of prioritizing loading zones for them over the needs of the residents?
Because Mark Gorton, who funded this whole Movement, lives on the UWS. Gorton’s man on Community Board 7 is Howard Yaruss, who wrote and shepharded the Community Board 7 Resolution requesting this Policy from the DOT. There’s lots of money behind this and lots of politics being played. All to your disadvantage.
sounds like your attacking these people.
No
I answered the question that Nicole asked: “Why are they not testing this out in lower Manhattan where they are already planning to reduce cars/traffic? ”
Unlike some, my replies are always to previous questions. I leave it to others to hypothesize negatively about commenters’ motives (and ramble on).
“Guest” author – my efffing ass!
Whatever this article is supposed to be; it isn’t. It’s a DOT public relations piece and a direct affront to the residents who need their cars. Trust me, if I I didn’t need my car, I would not have it in the city. If the the DOT continues to abide by Gorton’s whims, I will be one of the people who will move out of the city. Residential parking permits needs to be put in place.
I ride a Citibike to work most days and appreciate the existing bike lanes. Having said that, I think the push for more more more bike lanes is misguided. Between cold weather and rain, most people will only bike at most 8 months of the year.
This is a utopian dream that doesn’t fit the context of NYC, or probably any big city. Is this curbside dedicated lane to be home to: bikes, e-bikes/scooters, busses, ambulances, cabs, garbage bags, garbage trucks, delivery trucks, fire engines, and even a rain garden with drains? Who are you kidding? This isn’t smart – it’s the most idiotic idea yet designed to fool everyone by calling it smart. UPS, FedEx, moving vans, and other delivery trucks, don’t circle the block creating more polluted air. They pull up to the building for delivery and then move on. Cars circle the blocks looking for a legal parking spot. But the musical chair game has now removed more chairs and new garages haven’t been included in all the newly built high rise towers (and why is that?), making parking for those in need much more difficult. Even guests of residents can’t afford the garages that still exist. The writer – whose organization is a lobby group for the e-bike industry – thinks that everyone who owns a car in the city is a wealthy welfare queen. Guess what … it’s Mark Gorton and his cohort who are the welfare queens of the day. Compare middle class tax rates to his and also ask why his voice should count more than yours. This is a PR piece that should be accompanied by a counter opinion piece.
I am a native West Sider and a non-driver.
With respect it is unacceptable for the bicycle lobby (TransAlt/Open Streets/Streetopia etc) to be impacting City transportation policy.
No – I do not want any resources to go to bicycling/the bicycling infrastructure.
Bicyclists (especially “regular” bicyclists, Citibike and racing bikes) endanger pedestrians – bicyclists routinely go through red lights, go the wrong way, ignore bike lanes and incredibly curse pedestrians who object.
Also, bicycling siphons from bus and subway use.
It is further outrageous that parallel to the City’s growth of the bicycle infrastructure, MTA bus service has declined (reduced frequency, routes cut etc) and fares increased.
Bicyclists can walk, take the bus and subway.
good thing other people besides you do want these things. cars kill and maim and destroy people’s lives every day. bicyles almost never kill anyone. and we live in a car infested sewer. it does not need to be this way, and it will change despite your objections.
Wow, these posts always bring out the nuts!
Wow. . My faith in UWSiders is always restored!
It took days to calm down after reading this crappy ‘opinion piece’, which is designed to sound thoughtful, ‘inclusive’, forward thinking, and for the greater good. Really, it’s crappy policy, with a hidden agenda. The DOT is ‘choosing’ the UWS for a host of reasons better researched by others here, but also because it was likely believed we’d just roll over. So many of my neighbors have raised great reasons above why this is crap. Thank You.
THANK YOU! For pushing back, and stating above, far better than I could, the harm this could bring, and the hidden agenda behind this.
The one sided statistic in this artitcle is astounding. Six percent of Manhattanites commute to work. What is left out is all the “essential” workers that can not afford to live in Mark Gorton, billionaire’s neighborhood, but need to commute here to service all our essential needs. Fire fighters, Health workers, maintenance workers, the police to just name a few. They need to park. We haven’t mention the residents who have lived here all their lives, unlike Carl Mahaney, who is a recent transplant who can not afford $700 garage space.
We, the residents of the W103rd street neighborhood who fought against the “reimagining” of the street, by Peter Frishauf of ParktoPark103 fame, were silenced by CB7 when we asked to be given equal time with the presentation that eliminated 15 parking spaces in the name of “beautification & safety” on a narrow street with no record of accidents. Gale Brewer set us up with a Town Hall meeting (our only option) where Lisa Orman paid Open Plans director (Part of TA). This was suppose to be an information meeting for our neighborhood concerning the redesigning of W103, instead it became a propaganda event to allow Transportation Alternative “supporters” to voice their support.
Our curb space is being privatized by for profit citibikes owned by Lyft ($100,000) donation to TA, carshares and restaurant sheds. Andrew Rigie member of CB7 and Executive Director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance representing restaurants and night life is on CB7. It is a chamber of commerce. Elizabeth Caputo also of CB7 introduced citibikes to our neighborhood.
Mark Levine, boro president added a question in 2022 “do you own a vehicle”. If yes you will not be appointed to the board.
Our city needs more curb parking and light rail on all bridges and major highways, not for profit businesses taking away curb space maintained by the tax payers of New York.
People are starting to get hip on what is going on with millions spent on bike lanes which are so often empty and continuing to steal parking spaces from the tax-paying public who need them. There is a great inequality here since so often it’s those over 65 who require cars. TA is a movement clearly removing essential services for seniors, the disabled and the sick. It must be dealt with at the state level.
How about getting rid of all the oversized and/or empty dining sheds? Seems like that would free up a ton of parking.
That makes way too much sense JC. The residents of NY are being excoriated for having the nerve to park their car on the street. But the restaurants are fine to have rat infested sheds for free, most of them used as storage units right now. A temporary fix for the pandemic that should have gone away but didn’t. Not to mention how much they interfere with traffic and deliveries. But this is the fever dream of Trans Alt, the restaurant lobby and the swaggering Mayor!
I’m glad you brought up the “street restaurants”. Let’s start calling them what they are. Why should any restaurant take up an additional 1/3-1/2 of the sidewalk and the street? The most ridiculous speaker at the meeting last month, and there were many, was Ms. Brewer saying she’s sick of getting calls concerning delivery trucks, particularly, Amazon, taking up a lane. BooHoo. Here’s the solution. GET RID OF THE STREET RESTAURANTS SO DELIVERY TRUCKS CAN PARK. (I was screaming in my head). This nonsense about the safe curb? Ms. Brewer said, something to this affect, it’s difficult to see if a car is coming around a corner. Really? Has she walked on the NE side of Columbus at 85th? You literally have to step into the street to see around the street restaurant. On the other hand, why aren’t pedestrians waiting for the walk sign? Very unrealistic, I know. Those of you mouthing off about private cars owned by residents, stop thinking you know the reasons why people have a car. One more point, Mark Gorton is a Trump wannabe. He’s succeeding. Bully for him. I’ve lived in this neighborhood since back when is was crap. We’ve come so far, and now, it breaks my heart that NYC has gone from catering to the rich, to bowing down and turning their backs on us to cater to the filthy rich. The politicians are so proud that we are the most expensive city in the country. Very disturbing.
I applaud and fully support everyone who has spoken the truth about the land grab for the rich by Transportation Alternatives and its various “front” groups – Open Plans, Families for Safe Street, Street Films, Streetsblog – Street Lab, which to quote Maxine DeSeta: “are in all major cities across the US”. Aglaia Davis, especially makes compelling points with facts. She is an attorney and is trained to look for the truth past the propaganda.
For my part, I am a professional performing artist who moved to the Upper West Side 33 years ago and into my current apartment in 2004. I was lucky to get it as things were much more affordable then. Prices moved higher soon after. I do not comfortably fit into the demographic that the propagandists and the person who wrote this article thinks lives here. I am not Caucasian, I make far less than six figures a year, co-own a Prius with my husband (also a performing artist), hold down two jobs, and must commute frequently to another state in order to make ends meet. If I had to pay for a parking garage or take the train or bus or rent a car, that would wreck me financially. I am an environmentalist, believe in the science of Global Warming and my husbabd and I own bikes (not a blasted E-Bike a real one!), bike everywhere and even used to be a member of Transportation Alternatives until I found out about its evil underbelly and agenda.
These proposals are not about making it better for those of us who are socially or environmentally conscious or for those of us who are solidly middle class, not to mention those who live in the projects on our neighborhood – a demographic that is always conveniently overlooked. This is all about making profit and pushing us out while our supposed representatives’ (Gale Brewer, Mark Levine, Brad Lander, etc.) pockets continue to be lined by those wealthy one percenters who want to turn the Upper West Side into their private bike park and the developers to make money hand over fist with expensive ugly condos, ride share and pay for parking for the rich who are pushing us out. Indeed, no mention of the essential workers who work here, the disabled or us actually long time residents. They do not care about us. We are to be pushed out so the rich can have their playground.
One final point: those who live in the suburbs who pay their taxes and have free parking. Why can’t that be thought of in the same light for us residents of the Upper West Side? The answer: because where we live is desirable to developers who want our location – we’re in prime real estate land. I hope what I have said has mattered and enlightened those who bother to read this comment, which has now turned into a rant. Apologies for putting emotion into it. I don’t want to be forced out of my neighborhood so hope you can appreciate why I am so upset. Please do the research and follow the money. It is not in any way what this guest article states. PAX
Reading Mahoney’s diatribe makes my blood boil. As someone who has lived on the UWS for over 45 years, both in 10024 and 10025, i am astonished by the bickering in this thread. I guess I shouldn’t be. All of this “envisionment” is based on pure greed. Why should our tax dollars support Amazon and Fresh Direct parking? Let them rent storefronts and deliver good by bike or hand carts. After all, they are largely responsible for mom and pop stores going bust. If they are granted loading zones, I hope they are charged for parking in public space. Who pays for bike lane creation? Why are bikes getting a free ride? Time for them to be licensed and pay fees to maintain their private roads. Weekdays, most of the cars parked on my block belong to service providers, contractors, plumbers, electricians. They arrive at 8 am and leave at 4 pm. If they cannot park their small vans on the street how will any work be affordable? Not that it is now. There are so few garages left that it is barely an option. And then we have the cars for hire. One day I tried to count the number of “T” license plates I saw coming through my street. It was way more than private vehicles. I would venture they pollute more than residential parked cars. The open streets concept is another misguided initiative. On the UWS we have two FIRST CLASS parks and a myriad of small pocket parks. Why do we need to create recreational space in the streets? The dining sheds. GREAT idea during COVID. Now it time to say goodbye. They are ugly, rat infested shacks. Restaurants now having gained their indoor space back, no longer need the free space given them in the street. Lastly, street safety: double parked trucks, bikes flouting travel regulations, and dining sheds all impact pedestrian safety. I and several neighbors requested speed bumps on the Riverside Access Road. DOT responded no. Have they spent the time to observe the cars that speed and do not stop at stop signs or even traffic lights? And in full disclosure, I do own a car AND a bike. as a senior I no longer ride my bike much and when I did it was recreational. I do use buses as they are senior friendly. Subways not so much. I use my car to go shopping in locations that are more affordable, visit family who live outside the city and to get to my disabled niece and take her out. I would be ecstatic to pay for a residential parking permit. Happy to pay more for “public space”. Oops! Don’t I pay taxes here?
All of the above does nothing for the quality of life on the UWS. DOT, Transportation Alternatives, Community Board 7 have started a war AGAINST us. We cannot continue let them envision for us.