Reported on Aug. 1, 2009

Fort Greene residents can sleep a few minutes longer in the morning.  New alternate-side parking and street-cleaning regulations took effect on July 20th, reducing restricted parking to two days a week.

The city Department of Transportation, in association with the Department of Sanitation and Community Board 2, reduced street-cleaning parking restrictions by 50 percent.  Instead of moving vehicles as many as four times a week for scheduled morning street cleaning, residents now only have to move their cars twice.  On larger commercial streets, such as Fulton Street, only the scheduled street-cleaning times will change.

New street cleaning signs were installed on S. Oxford Street in Fort Greene. Photo: Charisse Williams

The new restrictions mark the conclusion of the first phase of a Department of Transportation sign-replacement initiative throughout Brooklyn Community Board 2.

In Fort Greene, 74 percent of residents do not own cars, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, but those who do are passionate about the inconvenience caused by the old alternate-side parking rules.

“Four days a week,” said Nkechi, a Fort Greene resident, “you couldn’t have a life unless you had a very flexible schedule.”

Residential parking is limited in Fort Greene because there is only one long-term parking lot in the neighborhood. Consequently, street parking is the only option for many drivers.

The cleanliness of Fort Greene’s tree-lined streets allowed the Department of Sanitation to consider a service reduction in the neighborhood.  Community Board 2 Chairman John Dew says the board began considering the idea when all street cleaning and alternate-side parking regulations were suspended for 30 days after 9/11.

“At the end of the 30-day period we looked down and the streets weren’t that dirty,” said Dew.

According to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s monthly scorecard cleanliness ratings, Fort Greene maintained a 94.35 percent rating in May and June.  Dew points out that the street cleaning services were already suspended for sign replacement during that period.

“I never saw a whole lot of difference while the rules were suspended,” said Tom Thompson, a car owner and 15-year resident of Fort Greene.  “It hasn’t been very long but it’s been good so far.”

Dew considers the project a success not only because it makes parking more convenient for more residents, but it has environmental benefits as well.  “People don’t have to move their cars, circulating on the streets causing additional traffic and all that goes along with that exercise,” he said.

The relaxation of parking rules in Fort Greene has not come without some dissent.  Some residents opposed the changes because they feared that commuters from Long Island and other parts of Brooklyn would use residential street parking to be close to Downtown Brooklyn and the express trains at Atlantic Terminal.

Bay Ridge resident Monika Balsamo, 24, says she’ll park her silver Honda Civic in Fort Greene more often now that the rules have changed.

“Right now the hourly lots are so expensive,” said Balsamo.  “If we parked there and took the train it would be about the same price as just parking in the city.  And we didn’t really think of parking in Fort Greene as an option.  But now we would.”

The Department of Transportation is now working on reducing alternate side parking restrictions in other areas of Community Board 2 including Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Fulton Ferry and Brooklyn Heights.