Greenpoint

City reduces alternate side rules in Greenpoint, Williamsburg

July 31, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Assemblymember Joseph R. Lentol, pictured chatting with a motorist, says the cleanliness of Greenpoint and Williamsburg streets has led the city to reduce alternate side parking in the two neighborhoods. Photo courtesy of Lentol’s office
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The cleanliness of Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents has led to a gift from the de Blasio administration: a sharp reduction in the number of alternate side parking days.

The Department of Sanitation has agreed to a request from Assemblymember Joseph R. Lentol (D-North Brooklyn) and Community Board One to give motorists a big break by reducing alternate side parking (ASP) regulations from four days a week to two days a week. 

Community Board One covers most of Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

The reason for the alternate-side rule change is simple, according to Lentol, who said that local streets are so clean, there’s no need for DOS street sweepers more than twice a week. “I believe that our streets are cleaner than they have been in years,” Lentol said in a statement.

As evidence, Lentol pointed to a letter he received from Mayor Bill de Blasio in reply to a request he made to the mayor to cut the number of alternate-side days in half.

“In fiscal year 2016, the district, comprising the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, had an average acceptable streets rating of 90.2 percent. Through the end of May it had increased its street cleanliness rating to 92.3,” de Blasio wrote to Lentol.

The mayor added that if Community Board One could keep its rating above 90 percent for the month of June 2017, it would become eligible for a reduction in alternate-side days.

Cleanliness ratings are generated by inspections of streets conducted under the jurisdiction of the Mayor’s Office of Operations. 

Seven years ago, the city instituted a system by which neighborhoods could seek to ease alternate-side restrictions. 

“Thanks to a law enacted in the City Council in 2010, we have a mechanism to reduce ASP in areas that are regularly clean,” Lentol said.

The 2010 law allows community boards that have a cleanliness rating of at least 90 percent for two consecutive years to request a reduction in alternate side parking regulations. 

Lentol said he urged the community board to officially request a reduction. The board made the request on July 20.

But residents shouldn’t expect to see changes overnight.

“We are on a 12-month implementation timeline, as they need to develop and install new signage,” Lentol said.

Still, relief is on the way for beleaguered drivers who are tired of hunting for parking spaces. 

“The ASP car moving game will finally have some relief. I know that North Brooklynites will keep the area clean because reducing the number of ASP days has been one of my constituent’s biggest requests,” Lentol said. 

The changes will not affect 8 a.m.-6 p.m. parking rules or meter regulations, or any other parking rules that are covered by street cleaning regulations.

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Why NYC Has Alternate-Side Rules

Alternate side of the street parking regulations have been a staple of life in New York City since the 1950’s, according to WNYC, which reported on its history in 2015.

Back in the 1950s, city streets were so litter-laden that officials started a program of using mechanical brooms to sweep the roadways.

An immediate problem cropped up, however. Drivers didn’t move their cars and the presence of the autos blocked the mechanical brooms from doing their jobs, WNYC reported.

As a solution, the city came up with a system of alternate side of the street parking, a way to prohibit drivers from parking on one side of the street. That enabled the mechanical brooms to sweep the roadway.

New York has had alternate side of the street parking ever since.

 

 

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