Point of view: Out-of-area cars are Manhattan's problem

Point: parking permits are needed. Counterpoint: oh no, they're not

The permit system would have many negative ripple effects on the community. It could hurt local businesses and make it harder for local residents to receive visitors.

By Anthony Perez Cassino   

The plan to charge motorists to drive into parts of New York City during workdays has awakened the public like few other ideas. It seems that everyone has a strong opinion about congestion pricing.

New Yorkers have flooded newspapers with letters extolling the virtues and evils of the plan, and public hearings on the topic have been no less impassioned. To that extent I think congestion pricing has been a tremendous success.

We need a vigorous public debate about the future of our city's roads and public transportation system. We also need bold solutions to address the serious problems ahead.

After participating in numerous hearings and debates on the topic, I remain a supporter of the plan - but not without certain reservations.

The commission created to review the plan and make recommendations recently proposed moving the zone to below 60th street. I think this is a vast improvement from the initial proposal to start it farther uptown. However, I continue to be concerned about the cost.

In London, where they have had congestion pricing since 2003, the price has already gone up from about $10 to $16. We need to implement a process that ensures that the cost cannot be easily raised without public input. The same needs to be done to prevent the expansion of the zone and its hours (to nights and weekends). I expressed those reservations in my testimony before the commission in October 2007.

In addition, we need to make sure that New Jersey motorists pay the same as Bronx motorists and I would like to see detailed plans for improving public transportation in our area. It has also been suggested that one of the worst unintended consequences of congestion pricing is that it will turn the neighborhoods outside of the zone into parking lots by motorists seeking to avoid the fee.

In response, Mayor Bloomberg recently announced a plan to empower local communities to issue residential parking permits that would reserve on-street spots for residents. This is one concern I do not share. While it may be a good idea for some neighborhoods and I appreciate that the power to implement it is vested in local communities, I believe that it is entirely unnecessary in our neighborhood.

My main reason for rejecting residential parking permits is that I firmly believe that we will not see any additional out-ofarea motorists parking here. We already have very limited public parking for local residents so I don't believe that Westchester and New Jersey motorists will gamble with their work day by coming into Kingsbridge or Riverdale with the slim hope of finding a parking space that will still leave many of them with a significant commute to work. Moreover, with the zone pushed to south of 60th Street, I think that residents of upper Manhattan should be more nervous about this problem.

I also believe that a permit system would have numerous negative ripple effects on the community. It could hurt local businesses and will definitely make it more difficult for local residents to receive visits from family and friends. Ironically, I believe it will lead to the very problem it is designed to alleviate since many nonpermit motorists will overwhelm areas right outside the permit zones. Finally, it has been hinted that there could be a fee for permit holders, which is a cost I do not support.

It is still early in the debate, and I certainly look forward to a spirited community discussion concerning permit parking. But, my initial response is thanks but no thanks.

Tony Cassino, a Riverdale resident, is chairman of Community Board 8. The views expressed here are his own and not that of Community Board 8, which has yet to address the issue of parking permits.

Point of view is an occasional column open to all readers.

This is part of the March 20, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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