To help businesses, city will install meters along Mosholu Avenue

By Manny Grossman

Drivers get your quarters ready. Parking meters are coming to North Riverdale.

The city Department of Transportation has announced plans to install meters along the commercial strip of Mosholu Avenue, west of Broadway, sometime in the next two months. As of right now, a spokesman for the city agency said it wasn't clear how far west the coin guzzlers would stretch, but the news already has some business owners rejoicing and North Riverdale residents complaining.

"I think it's great for merchants," said Rani Vaswani, the owner of The Barbecue Pit at 5788 Mosholu Ave. She said one of the biggest complaints she gets from customers is about the dearth of parking spaces outside her store.

Ms. Vaswani said because there's not a lot of foot traffic on Mosholu Avenue and because there are no alternate side of the street parking rules on most North Riverdale streets, she said there's not a healthy turnover of cars like other commercial arteries in the neighborhood.

"On the other side of Riverdale, businesses are flourishing because there's a lot more transience," Ms. Vaswani said. "The more support we get, the better it will be."

The lack of parking spaces deters some from shopping there, while other customers, she said, doublepark and risk being ticketed.

Ms. Vaswani said she has been slapped with double-parking tickets herself, even when she is bringing supplies in from the street.

It's this kind of atmosphere that is pushing customers away and forcing businesses to shutter, she said.

"These businesses need help," said Community Board 8 Chairman Tony Cassino, who said he was in full support of bringing parking meters to Mosholu Avenue.

Mary Tierney, the owner of Tierney's Irish grocery and deli, agreed. "I think it'll be good for business owners and customers," she said, referring to the turnover of cars that the meters will facilitate. But she cautioned that area residents might not like the news.

John Henry, a 15-year resident of Riverdale enjoying a drink at Kelly Ryan's bar just down the block, was skeptical that the meters would help residents or storeowners. He said it would help the "city's wallet" however.

"People who live on the block park here, how are they going to deal with putting money in the meters when they're at work?" he asked.

This is part of the December 6, 2007 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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