By Alex Robinson
A group of 1,500 Flushing residents and business owners have had enough of the traffic and parking problems which have long plagued the neighborhood.
The group submitted a petition to City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) last week calling on him to address transportation issues they said have hobbled the community.
“While they started as minor nuisances and government bullying, they have combined to make living and working in Flushing intolerable,” the petition said.
Among the problems the petition asked Koo to tackle were restrictive metered parking regulations under which parkers are charged until 10 p.m. in most of downtown Flushing.
The petitioners argued these regulations are unfair, as metered parking in most other neighborhoods is only in effect until 7 p.m.
“The additional parking tax is unfair and has been deliberately targeted against this immigrant community,” the petition said.
Koo has already introduced legislation to the Council to address this problem. If passed, the bill would change parking regulations so that meters could only charge motorists between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The petition’s supporters also called on Koo to work to extend the one-hour parking limit on downtown Flushing’s metered parking spaces. Restaurant owners said this restriction deters shoppers from staying longer in the neighborhood and prevents them from sitting down at a restaurant for a meal.
“Two-hour parking would let people go to restaurants,” said Timothy Chuang, owner of 101 Taiwanese Cuisine, a restaurant on 40th Road in downtown Flushing. “One hour isn’t enough. Two hours is more reasonable for downtown Flushing.”
Petitioners called for the limit to be extended to two hours, saying it is unreasonable to expect people can walk from their car to a restaurant, be seated, eat a meal and walk back all within an hour.
“Having a shorter time doesn’t make restaurant-goers eat faster or cycle parking more. It just forces people to get up in the middle of their meals,” the petition said.
Koo’s office said he would be working with the city Department of Transportation to extend the limits.
Residents also called on the councilman to address conditions on College Point Boulevard, which is riddled with potholes and is still waiting to be repaved after new traffic islands were put in last fall.
“When I am out meeting with my constituents, the feedback I constantly receive is that parking and traffic conditions are lousy at best,” Koo said. “These cries for improvement will not fall on deaf ears. With a combination of legislation and advocacy, I will make sure that the voices of my community are heard.”
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
