Queens Pol Wants To Replace Parking Removed For Bus Lanes

ELMHURST, QUEENS — A Queens official is trying to require the city to replace any parking spots it eliminates for bus lanes.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, who represents parts of central Queens, re-introduced a bill that would require the city to add a nearby parking spot for each one it eliminates. The bill says the city must replace public parking spots that it eliminated to accommodate buses or any capital project.

“Local businesses relying heavily on customer accessibility and parking availability have experienced great hardships as a result of city projects eliminating critical parking spaces,” Addabbo said.

If passed, the law would be effective immediately for future projects. The bill requires replacement parking spots to be within a one-block radius of the eliminated spot.

Addabbo first introduced the bill after the MTA launched the Q52/53 Select Bus Service route along Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards in 2017. The MTA and the NYC Department of Transportation added bus lanes to accommodate the 14-mile route from Elmhurst to the Rockaways, eliminating some public parking spaces.

The loss of parking spaces, Addabbo said, "has had a detrimental impact on the small businesses located along the route as customers are not able to gain access to these merchants."

TransitCenter, a NYC-based advocacy and research group, posted a one-word response to the bill: Nope.

Nope https://t.co/h4nJOFGaZp
— TransitCenter (@TransitCenter) March 26, 2019

Addabbo and co-sponsor Sen. Simcha Felder, of Brooklyn, tried to pass the bill in the 2017-2018 legislative session, but it died in committee. Felder is not co-sponsoring the current version, according to the NY Senate's website.

The bill is now in the Senate's transportation committee.