Three (3) staff members of the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) were present on West 12th Road late this morning.
They were measuring and recording the width (curb to property line) of individual property sidewalks along the north and south sides of West 12th Road.
I spoke briefly to these individuals and it appeared to me that they were on site solely to gather data regarding the sidewalks as they did not appear to be fully aware of the details of the ongoing street raising/flood mitigation project or the present issue regarding parking that we are dealing with.
Shortly after the DDC staff departed (to West 13th Road), staff from the design firm, The RBA Group
were present on West 12th Road also taking measurements.
I spoke with Joe Menzer of the RBA Group who stated that it appears that the issue of parking was raised by city agency legal staff and that after he and the DDC staff submit their data to DOT, Commissioner McCarthy will be meeting with the involved city agencies prior to our March 21st meeting with her at the North Channel Yacht Club (6:00 pm) to ascertain if a satisfactory resolution to this issue may be obtained.
Mr. Menzer stressed that although the RBA Group is not involved with the legal discussions regarding this parking issue, his staff has provided DOT with information regarding how other municipalities have dealt with the issue of parking regarding their respective "shared space" street designs.
Previous "Parking Issue" related Posts:
http://w12thrd.blogspot.com/2012/02/flood-mitigation-project-update-parking.html
Let me point out that we are currently driving two-ways on each and parking on both sides of our streets, virtually uneventfully and without impeding utility or emergency vehicular traffic, with the current 12 feet between both sides. In what is proposed by DOT/RBA this distance will be increased to 16 feet -- an additional four feet. For many years our community has lived with less clearance than what's proposed, setting the precedent that validates and establishes solid proof that we don't need one-side-only street parking, and has solidified the reasoning for reduced signage; that people live up to (or, in the case of over-signage, down to) the level they are treated. It ain't broke, so why fix it?
ReplyDelete