Medics Seek "Cure" For Parking Stalemate In Bay Terrace

The battle for additional parking spaces for medical patients in Bay Terrace is taking longer than expected. Local doctors waging a 30-month battle for their patients parking relief in the crowded shopping district are being told that the City Transportation Department [DOT] engineers "are still studying the matter," even though City Planning Department engineers had already completed a detailed traffic study of the area over a year ago.
Local doctors, spearheaded by Dr. Jordan Zuckerman, are pressing for parking rules permitting two-hour parking on Bell Boulevard, just off 24th Avenue, and on the north side of 26th Avenue, between 212th and 213th Avenues.
The new rules, he said, would actually prevent all-day parkers from storing their cars and still allow residents long-term parking every evening and on weekends.
Phil Konigsberg, president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance [BTCA], said that his 6,000 members disagreed and had rejected the proposal last week because the new parking rules would change the residential nature of the community and impose a negative effect on its quality of life.
Contributing to the congestion are the rising pedestrian and vehicular volumes that visit the increasingly popular Bay Terrace Shopping Center. Clouding this problem is the impending opening of the nearby giant Fort Totten Park, which will bring thousands of additional cars onto Bell Boulevard and adjoining streets.
Heavily impacted by these rising volumes are the offices of the 35 physicians ringing the giant shopping center, which generate another 2,000 cars per week onto this busy roadway.
Helping to trigger the open disagreement between the doctors and the residents was a City Planning Department traffic study that last year recommended installation of parking meters on Bell Boulevard. When the DOT complied in January, angry Bay Terrace residents demonstrated, and convinced the DOT to remove the meters.
State Senator Toby Stavisky, who has closely monitored the parking problems caused by the increasing vehicular and pedestrian volumes, has said that the most equitable solution would be the establishment of additional off-street parking spaces for the patients.