Legislation To Reduce Alternate Side Parking Regulations Moves Forward

In her State of the City address yesterday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced her support of legislation introduced by Councilmember Brad Lander that will drastically affect the lives of city drivers.

The legislation (Intro 287) will reduce alternate side parking regulations citywide to once a week per side of the street in districts that achieve cleanliness ratings of 90 percent or above on the Mayor's Office of Operation's "scorecard," which the city  uses to measure street cleanliness.

According to Lander, this is a positive step forward.

"By allowing communities to reduce alternate side parking to one day per week, this legislation can minimize the sense of dread that that all drivers feel on a day when alternate side parking is in effect," said Lander in a statement. "It will also reduce unnecessary car trips, thereby decreasing air pollution, since in many neighborhoods a good portion of the daily traffic consists of people looking for parking."

The legislation, Lander said, builds on what has already taken place in Community Board 6 under the direction of District Manager Craig Hammerman. In 2007, much of the district in residential areas was switched from twice a week to once a week for street cleaning, and the time was reduced from 3 hours to 90 minutes. Extra resources were diverted to major commercial streets like Smith and Court streets and 5th and 7th Avenues, Hammerman said.

Community Board 6 has worked for reduced alternate side parking regulations for more than 20 years. Hammerman said after after monitoring the monthly scorecard ratings, they found streets were not cleaner if swept twice a week compared to once a week.

"There was little measurable difference," Hammerman said.

And now, this effective efficiency may go citywide.

"Council Member Lander ought to be commended for introducing this legislation," Hammerman said.