Queens Parking Workshop Turns to Talk of Motorist “Rights”

12:59 PM EST on January 22, 2008

Speaking of the upcoming second round of citywide parking workshops, the summary of Round 1 is now online at the Department of Transportation's web site. To get a sense of why it's so essential for non-car owners and livable streets
advocates to attend the second round of parking workshops (especially
in Queens), download the summary memorandum.

It's pretty dry reading but there is some interesting material on pages 9 to 11 under the header, "Neighborhood-Specific Discussions." For example, in the Forest Hills, Queens workshop:

Some participants felt that it was a right of residents to own cars because of the distance between Forest Hills and the Manhattan urban core. Those defending car ownership rights felt that it was the compromise made to not live as close to Manhattan.

Interesting, this "right" to own a car. I wonder if Queens car owners' rights include the right to free, convenient parking? Let me double check my copies of the U.S. Constitution and the New York City Charter and see if I can dig that up...

Aaron Naparstek

@naparstek.bsky.social

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's 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. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.