Parking

Streetsblog's Angie Schmitt popularized the term "parking crater," and she explains it simply: A parking crater is "a depression in the middle of an urban area formed by the absence of buildings."

Well, that didn't take long.

Reducing the amount of parking in new development promises to make housing more affordable and curb traffic congestion, but it hasn't gained much traction in Bill de Blasio's first months at City Hall, despite the mayor's ambitious promises to ease the housing crunch. Today, two top city officials explained why, unlike their counterparts in more car-dependent cities, New York's leaders are suggesting only the meekest changes to off-street parking policy.

Props to the 78th Precinct and commanding officer Michael Ameri for this one. Reader Wayne Bailey sends photos showing that the 78th is starting to get the sidewalk parking situation under control near the precinct house. Previously this block of Sixth Avenue was occupied by officers' personal vehicles:

There's a deep connection between parking policy and housing affordability. The more space New York devotes to car storage, the less space is available to house people. And yet, 50 year old laws mandating the construction of parking in new residential development persist in most of the city, driving up construction costs and hampering the supply of housing.

Typically, no one goes to the southern end of downtown Tulsa to socialize. This part of town has been so overrun with parking lots that Streetsblog readers crowned it the worst "parking crater" in the country in our first Parking Madness competition last year.

Off-street parking for the Atlantic Yards project, which sits near one of the world's great confluences of transit lines, was once projected to include space for as many as 3,670 cars. Now the number of parking spots could get chopped down to 2,876 or, in one scenario, a significantly less car-centric 1,200, according to a new review prepared for the state body overseeing the development.

To mark Earth Day on Monday, the de Blasio administration released its first PlaNYC progress report [PDF], the latest annual check-in on the citywide sustainability plan released in 2007.

Last week, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn became the city's first "arterial slow zone" with a 25 mph speed limit. Now, a business improvement district on the avenue's western end is asking for pedestrian safety upgrades, and Community Board 2's transportation committee has signed on.