UWS Motorists Still Wary Study Will Scrap Parking As it Passes CB

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Upper West Side motorists worried about losing their free street parking remained wary of a resolution to study the neighborhood's streets this week, even as community board members assured them it won't change parking rules.

In a packed meeting Tuesday, Community Board 7 passed the newly-revised resolution that the city study its "curbside space," this time without a proposed ban on free parking that had residents up in arms when it was included in a previous version of the resolution last year.

The latest resolution asks the city to assess the neighborhood's "parking and curbside usage," look into ways to improve it and study the streets both before and after congestion pricing goes into effect.

It comes after months of tweaking language to avoid taking a side in what has become a fervent debate between car owners and those who curb space for uses aside from parking.

"All we're trying to do with this resolution is just hear from the city that controls the streets," Transportation Co-Chair Howard Yaruss said. "Anything the city recommends comes back to us — we're going to have input and you're going to have input."

But the reassurances weren't enough for some members of the public and the board who still accused the resolution of having an "anti-car bias."

"To characterize it as a study is inaccurate — it is in fact a stalking horse to cater to the interests to do away with free parking," board member Jay Adolf said.

Dozens of residents who said they need their cars for work or personal use and can't afford to park them in a garage used their time speaking against the resolution to plead with the board not to ban free street parking.

About an equal number of those who supported the resolution either said they see no harm in studying the issue or contended that space used for a minority of residents who own cars would be better served as bike lanes, pedestrian space or for trash pick-up.

Most board members who voted against the resolution said they wanted a more narrow look at congestion pricing, rather than curbside use as a whole.

Upper West Siders have long struggled with double parking, commercial deliveries and traffic congestion, which the resolution hopes to fix.

But part of the plan also includes investigating whether congestion pricing that will toll those coming into Manhattan below 60th Street will make these problems worse.

Other members warned, though, that changing the resolution again would make it difficult to get that study done before congestion pricing begins. The resolution has been bouncing between the Transportation Committee and Community Board 7's full board since last May.

"It's not perfect, but there is an interest for us to get moving," Transportation Co-Chair Meg Schmitt said.

"The continued word-smithing over months and months will get us closer and closer to when the beginning of congestion pricing does come, and they need time to collect info before that."