The area on and around Bell Boulevard in Bayside, has been declared by We Light Up Queens as an impossible place to park.
Next to the LIRR train station, thats pretty self explanatory.
On Bell Boulevard? No such luck.
Hmm a Muni-Meter spot is a safe bet right? Think Again.
Ah! Finally a spot on a quiet side street... Oh wait, no parking from 7 Am to 7 PM... F_ _K this I'm going home.
Just in case you all did not already know, parking around Bell Boulevard is nearly impossible during the day. It makes parking in Astoria look easy.
Weather
Showing posts with label parking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parking. Show all posts
March 26, 2008
March 24, 2008
Community Board Rejects Synagogue On Block
Community Board 8 Rejects Synagogue On Block
Finally someone is standing up to the increasing invasion of religious institutions. It is certainly not needed for a neighborhood to have four places on one block or in a 5 block radius for that matter, and as always parking for the residents in the area is more and more of an issue.
Hopefully someone in Flushing/ Community Board 11, will stand up and prevent future conversions of residential housing into "places of worship". I am not singling anyone one religion out, I just believe in general it has been over crowded with religious institutions and this problem is only getting worse. Understandably this rise in places to worship increase with the population and diversity that Queens has to offer.
“Our neighborhood is under siege by institutions. The community is saying we are over-saturated. We know this is a growing religious community where the membership will go beyond 400. What will happen to parking then?” asked Marie DeInnocentiis, at last week’s Community Board 8 meeting.
Over 30 residents, many angered about a lack of parking caused by a fourth synagogue being built within a block of the Hillcrest Jewish Center, signed up to to speak at the meeting.
Finally someone is standing up to the increasing invasion of religious institutions. It is certainly not needed for a neighborhood to have four places on one block or in a 5 block radius for that matter, and as always parking for the residents in the area is more and more of an issue.
Hopefully someone in Flushing/ Community Board 11, will stand up and prevent future conversions of residential housing into "places of worship". I am not singling anyone one religion out, I just believe in general it has been over crowded with religious institutions and this problem is only getting worse. Understandably this rise in places to worship increase with the population and diversity that Queens has to offer.
Cars Got Larger, Drive Ways stayed the same, SUVs Got Tickets
Homeowners Ticketed For Parking In Own Drive
Well sadly Queens residents eat up nearly one third of all the parking tickets dealt in the New York City Area. Is this a new all time low? An all- time low maybe... but this act of ticketing has been practiced in Flushing for as long as I can remeber (as the family minivan renders our driveway unusable).
However, if blocking the sidewalks becomes an accepted practice and not enforced like the Bayside residents are suggesting, then it is plausable to suggest that we could see many more people doing the same, as well as people trying to pack in two cars into one driveway space and big cargo vans blocking sidewalks more so than they already do. There is no simple way out, and every solution creates another problem.
A Bay Terrace homeowner has been ticketed three times in the past month for parking in his own driveway.
“A guy came through two or three times in the same month. He ticketed two of the cars, but not the third, even though the third was over just as much,” said Anthony Scharge, long time Bay Terrace resident.
Well sadly Queens residents eat up nearly one third of all the parking tickets dealt in the New York City Area. Is this a new all time low? An all- time low maybe... but this act of ticketing has been practiced in Flushing for as long as I can remeber (as the family minivan renders our driveway unusable).
However, if blocking the sidewalks becomes an accepted practice and not enforced like the Bayside residents are suggesting, then it is plausable to suggest that we could see many more people doing the same, as well as people trying to pack in two cars into one driveway space and big cargo vans blocking sidewalks more so than they already do. There is no simple way out, and every solution creates another problem.
March 15, 2008
From My Blog to God's RSS Feed
A few weeks ago I suggested something along the lines or resident permit parking for Queens since it is starting to become an issue for many. Apparently this varies from neighborhood and block to block as well.
Here is the old post: Parking Problems
Picture from DOT
QueensCrap: Residential Parking Plan
Apparently it is under consideration by the Community Boards.
I think it will be hard to enforce a change like this because there are usually no meter maids and such to regulate this during the hardest time to park which is usually between the hours of 6 P.M and 11 P.M.
I maybe pushing it when I dare to suggest that these permits also could also provide exemptions like paying for parking meters in their own respected zone.
February 22, 2008
City Shuting Down Star Nissan?
Well my last post suggesting that something should be done about the various parking issues in Queens.City should shut down Star Nissan: CB 11
Community Board 11 is trying to get Star Nissan ( who does major amounts of sales, evident because of their bumper sticker) shut down because of their lot can not hold that amount of cars the dealership maintains, leaving many cars on surrounding side streets which end up in " No Parking" zones and blocking fire hydrants. The lot has a Certificate of Occupancy for 30 cars but their total nears 70.
The residents around the Clearview Expressway probably could use the parking relief, I know I have had my difficulties parking in that area before.
One step for Bayside in the right direction, one step for Queens!
February 19, 2008
Parking Problems and Possible Solutions
Parking has been an ongoing problem that is increasingly getting worse. When will the congestion of an increasing population affect the ability to park? The question is, how do we fix the problem before it gets out of hand?
1. Make it a requirement for all new buildings with residential housing ( at least 4 stories). Must provide a parking garage or parking lot for its residents. The ratio of provided parking spots to residents must be at least 1.5 to 1. Assuming that there is at east one car per household.
a. However this will create a new problem. Where do we put these parking garages? Preferably
underground. In a worst case scenario a municipal lot could be erected.
b. This will curb the rate of which Queens one family hosing is turned into "McMansions", as it will become more expensive to do so.
2. Instead of creating more spots, possibly taxing the landlord for the amount of spots that its residents take up. To even the balance and make parking more available, some parking meters in the area should be removed. The tax would be the equivalent to the income the city would have received if there were meters at those spots. If you were to calculate the actual income from a metered spot, it works out to $1,560 per spot. Perhaps that is a little high. A $300 to $600, tax per year per spot could make a world of difference. In turn to benefit the residents, they will receive permits to park in a designated area, close to their homes.
Where do we need additional parking? The Long Island Rail Road stops usually have " Park and Ride" commuters taking up many spots. This is evident in Northern Flushing at the Broadway station as well as the Murray Hill Station and the Bayside Station. Of course in most cases there is no room to build such a structure, certainly not in an area that the community boards would approve. The under utilized properties should be selected.
Where could a proposed All Day Muni-Parking complex go?
An example off the top of my head would be the currently vacant property in Flushing on Northern Boulevard not far from 162nd Street where there once was a Movie Theater and then a CVS if my memory serves me correctly. There is an existing good sized lot and if the entire property is utilized it would benefit not only the surrounding residents but also the businesses on and around Northern Boulevard. On Sundays, parishioners of St. Andrew Avelino would benefit from such a lot (free on Sundays).
The DOT have been cracking down on extended driveway openings. The question is, who does this help? Now we must considering that the car which was parked in the removed spot would be moved onto the street, therefore negating and chance that available parking would increase. This does give the neighborhood "parker" for lack of a better word, a slight chance that they could find a spot.
Everyone has a few cars on the block that take up 2 spots or is horrifically crooked or perhaps a "Long Island Park". Then maybe you would like this bumper sticker: I Park Like an Idiot.
But please do not actually go on a sticking rampage, but maybe leaving it under the windshield whipper would be comical. On a side note they really need to make bilingual ones as well.
1. Make it a requirement for all new buildings with residential housing ( at least 4 stories). Must provide a parking garage or parking lot for its residents. The ratio of provided parking spots to residents must be at least 1.5 to 1. Assuming that there is at east one car per household.
a. However this will create a new problem. Where do we put these parking garages? Preferably
underground. In a worst case scenario a municipal lot could be erected.
b. This will curb the rate of which Queens one family hosing is turned into "McMansions", as it will become more expensive to do so.
2. Instead of creating more spots, possibly taxing the landlord for the amount of spots that its residents take up. To even the balance and make parking more available, some parking meters in the area should be removed. The tax would be the equivalent to the income the city would have received if there were meters at those spots. If you were to calculate the actual income from a metered spot, it works out to $1,560 per spot. Perhaps that is a little high. A $300 to $600, tax per year per spot could make a world of difference. In turn to benefit the residents, they will receive permits to park in a designated area, close to their homes.
Where do we need additional parking? The Long Island Rail Road stops usually have " Park and Ride" commuters taking up many spots. This is evident in Northern Flushing at the Broadway station as well as the Murray Hill Station and the Bayside Station. Of course in most cases there is no room to build such a structure, certainly not in an area that the community boards would approve. The under utilized properties should be selected.
Where could a proposed All Day Muni-Parking complex go?
An example off the top of my head would be the currently vacant property in Flushing on Northern Boulevard not far from 162nd Street where there once was a Movie Theater and then a CVS if my memory serves me correctly. There is an existing good sized lot and if the entire property is utilized it would benefit not only the surrounding residents but also the businesses on and around Northern Boulevard. On Sundays, parishioners of St. Andrew Avelino would benefit from such a lot (free on Sundays).
The DOT have been cracking down on extended driveway openings. The question is, who does this help? Now we must considering that the car which was parked in the removed spot would be moved onto the street, therefore negating and chance that available parking would increase. This does give the neighborhood "parker" for lack of a better word, a slight chance that they could find a spot.
Everyone has a few cars on the block that take up 2 spots or is horrifically crooked or perhaps a "Long Island Park". Then maybe you would like this bumper sticker: I Park Like an Idiot.
But please do not actually go on a sticking rampage, but maybe leaving it under the windshield whipper would be comical. On a side note they really need to make bilingual ones as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
