Brooklyn Merchants Fight for Parking Over Affordable Housing

12:08 PM EDT on July 10, 2007

A group of profoundly confused Brooklyn merchants have convinced themselves that a nearby empty lot is better used for motor vehicle storage than affordable housing for 152 families. Oh, and by the way, the affordable housing plan includes an even larger parking lot beneath the building. The Daily News reports:

A group of Williamsburg merchants is battling a city plan to develop a parking lot that for more than a decade has helped attract customers to the thriving commercial strip. But the city and the developer - which is set to buy the city lot for $1 - said the plans for 152 units of affordable housing at McKenna Court also would benefit the merchants.
The lengthy city land-review process, which will determine whether the project will be approved, continued on Monday with a hearing before the borough president...
The merchants said that many more spaces would be needed for the new tenants. But the developer said past experiences have shown that few, if any, of the new tenants would have cars. Without a transportation study - which the community board has now requested - the merchants remained convinced that their businesses would suffer.
Convenient parking is crucial to good business, said Betty Cooney, executive director of the Graham Avenue Business Improvement District, which represents 180 businesses. "We need those amenities to keep our customer base," she said.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

Brooklyn Merchants Fight for Parking Over Affordable Housing

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