New York – Council Members David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) and Daniel Dromm (D-Queens) have introduced bills that would create as many as 100,000 new parking spots in New York City and save New Yorkers from thousands of parking tickets.
Last week, Greenfield introduced legislation that would curb tickets in New York City by painting the curbs near all of New York’s 109,800 fire hydrants red. Dromm introduced legislation that would decrease the distance drivers need to leave when parking near a fire hydrant from 15 feet to 10 feet.
Greenfield’s legislation, already supported by over half a dozen of his colleagues, would require the City to paint the curbs adjacent to fire hydrants red to the exact length that drivers are prohibited from parking near a hydrant.
“These are common sense solutions to everyday problems,” said Councilman Greenfield. “Drivers shouldn’t have to keep a tape measure in their glove boxes to determine where they can park. Many drivers park far away from hydrants to avoid parking tickets and are unintentionally taking up several feet that could be used for an additonal parking spot. Others park too close, and incur the wrath of a traffic enforcement agent. Our legislation ensures that drivers, and traffic enforcement agents, have an easy way to follow New York’s complex parking laws.”
Dromm introduced a bill, which Greenfield is supporting, that would reduce the distance a car must be parked from a hydrant from 15 feet to 10 feet. Greenfield and Dromm are asking that these bills be considered jointly, to ensure that the City would not have to repaint curbs if Dromm’s legislation were passed subsequent to Greenfield’s.
“These two bills would create thousands of new parking spaces in New York City,” explained Councilman Dromm. “In fact, many other municipalities around the country have these rules and they work. It is rather surprising that New York has not adopted them.”
“The law requiring 15 feet of free space on each side of a fire hydrant was adopted to allow fire trucks to park directly in front of hydrants,” Dromm said. “However, fire trucks rarely take the time to parallel-park when responding to an emergency. An engine company will simply double-park in front of a hydrant and run a hose, making the 15 foot rule obsolete. Allowing for a 10 foot no parking zone on either side of the hydrant will ensure that first responders have adequate space for maneuvering their equipment, while allowing New York City more space to meet ever-growing demand for street-side parking.”
“and save New Yorkers from thousands of parking tickets.”
it’s silly to say that this’ll save us money, since the money will ultimately come from us the taxpayers, will it be by an increase in real estate tax or sales tax.
someway or another they’ll make us pay. unless if the city will fire some traffic agents because they won’t be able to hand out that much tickets as they’re used to now. but i strongly doubt that bloomberg will allow cuting the traffic force, since they’re his favorite.
i rather think that he’ll eliminate other parking spaces just like he did on Ft Hamiltin in BP and sent some agents there to hand out fines
just city hall trying to fool you
The best way would be to allow parking right in front of a hydrant so we can gain 8-10 more spots per block!
They should put a tower on the hydrant with a hydrant symbol on top so it’s locatable easy even from a distance. (like they have in Canada) Additionally they should turn the water supply opening inwards rather then outwards facing the street
mayor bloomy will never allow this to pass he needs the money
Every other city and town in which I have lived or visited has painted curbs yellow to warn drivers not to park there. I don’t care whether they use yellow or red paint, but I think it is appropriate that the curbs be painted. Once while visiting Brooklyn, I received a ticket for parking too close to a hydrant. I honestly hadn’t even see the hydrant: I parked to the left of a narrow driveway and the hydrant was to the right of the driveway. It was ironic, because I checked carefully to be sure that I wasn’t blocking the driveway, and if I had seen the hydrant or realized that I was within 10′ or 15′ of it, wouldn’t have parked there. I hate NYC.
Time for yidden to move out of NY the place is one big rip-off and low quality of life, all thanks to the liberals in office.
How about painting all of the illegal driveways red so we know which ones we can legally block?
I never really understood why they need to block the space in front of the hydrant for the rare instance of a fire. In the UK the hydrants are under ground and marked with an H on the sidewalk. I am not aware of fire fighters having a harder time putting out fires in the uk.
Why are police officers allowed to park at fire hydrants when they go for a cup of coffee? You and I would get a ticket. Bus stops is one thing, but a fire hydrant, is still a HAZARD!!
Did anyone have the brains to first consult with the NYC Fire Department about their requirements for space around the hydrants? After all, they’re the trained fire fighters who know how much space they need. The politicians can waste everyone’s time and money in endlessly debating the question, but all they know is how much money and parking spaces they want. Where fire is concerned, lives can be at stake, and the politicians know as little about fighting fires as you or I.
this entire experiment is nothing more then a way to make money for the city before you had an argument now its there to see for all. think about all the frumies in flatbush and boro park that will now have to give up their private parking spots. will this extend to the hazallah members in shul or shopping as well
If we’re discussing the removal of the artificial crimes (created for their generous and coffer-filling penalties), let’s talk about bus stops. My observation is that there are way too many bus stops, often every single, small block. Each of these stops eliminates parking for nearly a half a block, some more. Do these stops need that much room? I understand that there needs to be space for safety reasons, but I see way too much being stolen from innocent drivers. I think this whole mentality of criminalizing normal behavior for revenue generation is insane, barbaric, and even terroristic. Bloomberg has gotten addicted to this mentality. The shameful thing is that the backlash is to find ways to evade citations, do things without getting caught, etc. What a way to live!
They should just allow parking in front of the hydrant, and put up signs saying if you park there, you risk having your windows busted out when a firetruck comes and cant access the hydrant. They will and do do this anyway. Some do it just for kicks. Ive seen a few cars with a fire hose running right thru the front to connect to the hydrant. That would opn up a million spaces I bet.
Its a great idea and if it works out maybe the first car that’s not parked by the red line get a ticket like that u could get a lot of parking and the same by corner ppl park 5 feet from corner y???
Every time you post a story like this or similar, I thank my lucky stars that I had the foresight to get the heck out of that ‘midas sedom’ city a few years back. I don’t miss it one bit. My blood pressure and stress level are both back in the healthy range since.
The 100,000 new parking spaces are like Greenfelds hundreds of millions of dollars he got for trasportation and tuition for his constituents. Its all#%@&%#.
Perhaps if I paint my wallet red, they will stop taking every last penny from me?
I hope this painting doesn’t confuse man’s best friend.
Why can’t we block a fire hydrant??
If bloomberg can close firehouses we can park at hydrants in case of fire they will know what to do.
Who is going to pay for the paint? Who will be doing the painting?
I see more spending then savings.
I can’t wait to see the contract and the bidding to get this done!
Don’t paint the curb, paint a “keep out” box onto the street! Then we can see whether that empty space is a parking spot or not before we get to it, instead of thinking it’s a spot until we drive partially past it and see the hydrant.