By Alex Christodoulides
Residential parking permits (RPP) are the solution reached by seven communities throughout the five boroughs in a dozen workshops with DOT personnel during the fall and winter, allowing some space to be guaranteed for local cars instead of those of nonresidents seeking to avoid the $8 toll to cross into Manhattan.”A community's residents would propose where and when parking restrictions would apply. After their proposal is reviewed and approved by local officials and the city Department of Transportation, parking permits would be issued to vehicles registered to addresses in the residential parking zone. That would give them Ð and only them Ð the right to park where and when restrictions are in effect,” Bloomberg explained during his March 16 radio address.So for communities such as Forest Hills, downtown Flushing and Long Island City, this plan and its color-coded decals may give local residents a chance at getting that elusive parking spot, or at least making sure drivers from elsewhere in Queens or Nassau or Suffolk counties cannot take all the spaces in the neighborhood.Similar programs have been in place for years in cities such as Washington, D.C.; Boston; Chicago and San Francisco. The DOT will issue annual permits to residents who can show proof of vehicle registration at an address within the permit area.Under the program, residents with a permit displayed on their vehicle would be able to park in a residential parking permit-designated space all day. Cars without a permit for a particular zone would not be able to park in RPP spaces during a set 90-minute time period, which is up to the communities to establish. Visitors coming to neighborhoods to shop, use services or conduct business would be restricted from the RPP spaces during the 90-minute period, but could park there at other times of the day.”Congestion Pricing is vital to the future of New York City and a residential parking permit program will help to ensure that neighborhoods are not overrun with commuters looking for parking before they get on a subway to enter the pricing zone,” said Sadik-Khan. “The Residential Parking Permit Program will give parking priority to local residents while also balancing the need for some visitor and commercial parking.”Reach reporter Alex Christodoulides by e-mail at achristodoulides@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
