Parking woes grow in LIC

Parking spaces are harder than ever to find in Long Island City, and the volume of complaints from residents and merchants alike is growing as a result.
The community’s proximity to the Manhattan-bound No. 7 line, its concentration of educational institutions and new towering residential developments has exacerbated the problem.
“It’s an abomination – there is no parking.” said Donna Drimer, owner of Vernon Boulevard’s Matted L.I.C. “With all the construction it’s even worse,” she said, referring to projects that currently block off two lanes between 46th and 47th Avenues on 5th Street.
Drimer said there is a small parking lot a few blocks away from her shop, but it is not big enough to solve the space problem. In that lot, along with others in LIC, there are more cars than there are spots and many drivers are turned away.
Some of the problem is created by commuters who travel to LIC, park, and then take the subway into Manhattan, explained City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer.
“We need to do everything we can to give first priority to people who live in Long Island City or work in Long Island City and not provide parking to those coming from places out east,” Van Bramer said
“The neighborhood tremendously increased [its] population and retail space, so there is more competition for parking spaces,” noted Dan Miner, senior vice president of the Long Island City Business Development Corporation.
The staff at LaGuardia Community College also recognizes that the parking demand is a problem affecting students, faculty and residents.
“Some students take advantage of our parking lots,” LaGuardia’s director of marketing and communications, Susan Lyddon, said. She added, however, that “most of our tens of thousands of students take public transportation,” and she said she encourages everyone to take advantage of mass transit.
Local officials and community leaders have come up with plans to solve the situation. One idea is to reduce meter times to two hours in order to stop individuals from feeding the meter and leaving their car in one spot all day.
Another idea is to decrease the amount of commercial zones where only trucks may stand for pick-ups and deliveries. This will open up space for regular parking spaces.
But it seems a single fix does not exist.
“There is no one-size shoe fits all solution,” Van Bramer exclaimed. “Many things need to be done on a block-by-block basis.”