UWS Parking Debate Prolonged As Board Refuses To Vote On Study

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The Upper West Side community board's debate on requesting a city study of parking in the neighborhood will continue at least another month.

Community Board 7 members voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to send a resolution requesting the city study free parking and alternative uses of curbside space on the Upper West Side back to the board's transportation committee. Members took issue with language in the resolution that asserted free parking "exacerbates economic inequality." Some members also cited the city's anti-car bias on parking policy and said the requested study was too broad to be successful.

The resolution was sent back to committee despite transportation committee chair Howard Yaruss agreeing to a number of amendments Tuesday to remove objected language from the resolution and add language making it clear that Community Board 7 has not yet taken a position on parking reforms. The resolution up for vote Tuesday was a watered down version of a previous resolution passed by the transportation committee in May asking the city to discontinue free parking spaces for private vehicles.

Yaruss said the final resolution passed by the transportation committee was designed to simply search for answers to problems such as congestion, double parking and cruising for parking spots — not to promote any kind of solution.

"The resolution that we have before us merely calls on the city to assess what's going on on the curb, to assess the policy of free parking and the usage of the curb as it exists," Yaruss said Tuesday.

"I don't know what the answer is, but the city has experts that are paid and are there to help us in this regard and I would like to hear from them, and the committee would like to hear from them," the transportation chair added.

Many residents who spoke during Tuesday night's meeting didn't buy into Yaruss' claims, accusing the transportation chair of having an anti-car agenda with a goal to end free curbside parking.

Upper West Sider Tag Gross, who founded a group called Common Sense Streets, described the request of a city study as a "Trojan Horse to eliminate parking." Gross blamed problems such as congestion and cruising for parking on out-of-town car owners who drive into the Upper West side, not locals.

"Upper West Side car owners are simply not contributing to traffic, pollution or safety issues that the resolution references," Gross said.

Others spoke out in favor of studying parking, hoping that a study could lead to repurposing curb space for uses that encourage fewer drivers to take to New York City streets. Those in favor of the resolution said the "status quo" of parking policies established in the 1950s deserves to be studied.

Community Board 7's transportation committee will meet on Tuesday, Dec. 10.