Roosevelt/90th Street (file photo)
March 6, 2018 By Tara Law
Cars and delivery trucks will soon be prohibited from parking along Roosevelt Avenue between Broadway and 90th Street during rush hour, and businesses fear that the restrictions will cut into their bottom lines and make it difficult to receive deliveries.
The pilot program will start on March 19 and last for six months, according to a DOT spokesperson. The restrictions will be in effect weekdays from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The NYPD will assign additional staff to the area to enforce the new regulations.
The parking restrictions, which were first announced in October, are part of the Clear Curbs component of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Congestion Action Plan.
Clear Curbs, which is also being enacted in Midtown and on Flatbrush Avenue in Brooklyn, is intended to prevent cars from blocking travel lanes and to speed up pick-up and drop-off of passengers.
The DOT intends to monitor the program, and will assess whether to make the restrictions permanent at the end of the six-month period.
Glen Mirchandani, who owns Devinsons Jewelry at the intersection of Roosevelt Ave and 82nd Street, attended a meeting held by the DOT and a Jackson Heights business group last Friday.
Mirchandani said his customers already find it difficult to find parking along Roosevelt Avenue, and that the new restrictions will make the problem much worse.
“I’m not happy about it,” Mirchandani said. “It’s going to affect all businesses.”
Many of his customers live in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he said, and must drive to get to the store.
“I’ve already lost quite a few customers,” Mirchandani said. “They always say it’s so hard to come to you, it took 30 minutes or an hour to find parking.”
Small businesses can’t spare six months for a pilot program, said Leslie Ramos, executive director of the 82nd Street Partnership, a business association that includes businesses located at the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and 82nd Street.
She said that her organization is “100 percent against” the program.
“There’s very limited parking around here,” Ramos said. “Retailers are struggling as it is.”
Ramos said that she is particularly concerned about the brackets of time the DOT selected for the restrictions. The early hours will cut into peak delivery time, she said, and the later hours will hold up customers who stop in on their way home from work.
“If you want to kill businesses, this is a perfect plan,” Ramos said. “I feel like we are trading traffic speed for business survival.”
A DOT spokesperson said that the department is continuing its outreach to local businesses. The department met with the Jackson Heights and Elmhurst community boards on Jan. 17 to discuss the program.
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12 Comments
Eso no es esta bien porque es una zona comercial utilizada por comencial y particulares. Por consiguiente el estacionaminto es muy escaso o nulo.
Y ahora con estas regularisaciones sera peor , pero es muy bueno para los que ponen multas. Pero no para el bolsillo de los conductores, esta zona tambien se pone horrible cuando hacen sus desfiles en la 37 avenida en la temporada de verano. Por que cierran muchas calles comerciales , pero como les mecione es muy bueno para los que cobran las multas por que son $ 115 dolares y solo toma 1 segundo para escanear la informacion considero que se debe buscar otra solucion . Esta medida no es bueno para los conductores comercilaes o regulares pero si es bueno para los que ponen multas yo creo que son $115 dolares en un segundo de escaneo de datos, es mi personal oponion . Dios Los Bendiga Amen
I drive on Roosevelt all the time. I’ve been saying for a few years that deliveries should be made 6-9am before stores open. During the day street is too dense to deliver products. Finally someone got the right idea too!
I guess all those cars & delivery trucks will be parking on 37 ave
Weren’t these Rush Hour No Standing rules implemented and then removed along Northern Boulevard?
Let’s just realize for once that the city cannot provide free parking for everyone who likes to own a car. If there was guaranteed free parking for everyone, I would have owned a car too. Someone’s selfish decision to own a car should not be the rest of the population’s burden. There is a price to everything, especially when it’s in great demand, such as parking and space in general. If they need it, they have to make sure they can afford it.
Roosevelt Ave. is a major travel thoroughfare and should be treated as such.
DOT has flipped. First they cause congestion on Queens Blvd by putting unused bike lanes down that busy road and now they want to kill business on Roosevelt Blvd because they want to speed up traffic. Perfect example of government not serving the people.
You mean not serving few people with cars and not forgetting about ~90% of other people? Hmm, I’m okay with that.
what do you mean “unused bike lanes”? I saw a biker once!
This is unsurprising from a communist mayor!
What is the definition of communist? I don’t like the guy but stop using words you don’t understand. I’m glad they did this. I am a car owner I pay 200 dollars alone for parking a month. However I agree with this. That area is too crowded if I need to go to roosevelt ave I will do the unthinkable I will walk. Having a car in NYC is a luxury. I am grateful that I can afford a car, parking and insurance yet I should not use my luxury item to piss non car owners off. I’m sick of the double Parked cars all over the place.
Businesses fear that they won’t be able to park in front of their own shops and ‘feed’ the meters all day.