By Gus Saltonstall
Tens of thousands of curbside parking spaces in the five boroughs could be replaced by high-tech trash bins, including more than 1,400 possible spots on the Upper West Side, according to a recently published draft by the New York City Department of Sanitation [DSNY].
On July 1, DSNY published its draft of an “Environmental Impact Statement” for its “Citywide Containerization Program” that would roll out more than 60,000 Empire Bins throughout the city.
Empire Bins are European-style trash receptacles that can hold around four cubic yards of trash and are aimed at getting trash bags off the sidewalks and streets in front of buildings. The bins are locked and can be opened only by building staff and waste managers using access cards assigned to the bins.
On the Upper West Side’s Community District 7, the draft of the plan currently projects 3,211 Empire Bins to replace 1,460 parking spots in the neighborhood, if every building that has the option opts into getting the bins.
That is the equivalent to the Upper West Side losing 10.38 percent of its legal, on-street parking, according to the study. That figure for the Upper West Side is the highest percentage loss of parking spaces of all 59 community districts in New York City, the draft shows.
Buildings with 31 or more residential units are mandated to opt into the Empire Bin program, while smaller buildings with 10 to 30 units can choose whether or not they want the bins. If the majority of these smaller Upper West Side residential buildings decide against the bins, the number of parking spots lost in the community would be closer to 950.
The Empire Bins were first launched as a pilot program in West Harlem in 2025, where rat sightings fell by as much as 55 percent in the surrounding streets, according to findings from the program. As part of this pilot program, a collection of the Empire Bins were also installed within the northern section of the Upper West Side.
In terms of the timeline on the rollout of Empire Bins across the city, DSNY stated a target of June 2032, but the majority of neighborhoods, including the Upper West Side, do not have a rollout date in the draft published on July 1.
The draft of the study is open for public comment, and you can submit written comments about the subject to containerEIS@dsny.nyc.gov until August 7.
You can check out the full draft of the study — HERE.
Read More:
- New High-Tech Trash Bins Installed on the Upper West Side for Pilot Program
- Sanitation Explanation: Trash Containerization FAQ
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Excellent!
Yeah, that photo really shows a great and picturesque view of what a tourist should expect to see in NYC —- lovely!
Are the any worse than stationary cars?
There are 130,000 households on the UWS, so this will get trash, rats, and that garbage juice stink off the streets for everyone who lives here at a cost of parking spots for 1% of households. 99% vs 1%. We need to start making the community better for the vast majority of people here even if it inconveniences a small but very loud and angry minority. People who park a car for free on public land create all kinds of stories about how they are the biggest victims in NYC, but they need to think about everyone else who lives here for once.
Your comment is 99% wrong. I checked my “facts” (like you did) and came up with way different numbers. These things will be there 100% of the time filled with garbage — that’s a nice thought.
I fully expected this article to bring out the anti-car crowd. I need a car to commute from the UWS to a job up north. I know by now that guys like Josh routinely rail against people like me that don’t really have an option and I’m used to it. But I’ve never really understood the hate. I’m certainly not inconveniencing you in any major way.
You may not be inconveniencing anyone, but other drivers are killing and injuring bike riders. I was knocked down by a hit and run driver resulting in my need for repair of a broken front tooth. I got off easy. Most car drivers are good but It only takes one.
Try biking on Riverside drive when its filled with cars at rush hour when your only option is to bike or take the M5 that comes once every 1/2 hour.
Trash on the sidewalk is an inconvenience for lots of people: people in wheelchairs, for example. So this is a small compromise. Your issue shouldn’t be with people who don’t own cars. Your issue should be with people who do own cars but don’t need them for work or important tasks, but instead only have them to go to their Hamptons homes.
Those cars, like mine, are in parking garages.
It’s easy to be in favor of inconveniencing people when it’s people other than yourself.
Just tell me what will happened to that juice from those big containers? As new it will be great, gradually though right after “new” will be “passe” how and where that juice will be cleaned?
As it is right now, not everyone uptown is happy with these containers.
I live uptown and the containers are great. No more bags on the street and sidewalks
Josh P.
I imagine that you’d also urge that folks should shop locally, walk to stores if able-bodied – and stop getting Amazon and other ecommerce.
Uber and e-commerce are a major reason for more vehicles on the streets.
Car drivers don’t have their own lobby like uber, Lyft and amazon. We need a fine lobbyist.
Big oil is, and has been, the lobbyist for cars for years. That’s why we don’t have a rail system like in Europe but developed freeways instead to support the oil industry and cars rather than public transportation.
I am not sure though + what percentage of cars parked on the UWS belong to people who love here? I am overall excited about the garbage but I can’t help but think of the people who commute by car to the UWS.
No other major city in the US throws the amount of uncontainerized trash as we do out on curbs like we do. Its disgusting and should have been remedied years ago. But finally, a solution comes along and all you hear are gripes.
Why would anyone who wants to get around by car come to do things in a neighborhood that is totally transit-oriented?
If they really feel they must take a car here, they can take a taxi or park in a garage.
Really? What if they live upstate and work in the city and have to drive? Yes, they can take a Metronorth or Amtrak but why should they? A month those train rides are equally as expensive, so why should they take a taxi or park in a garage when the city has always had street parking?
There’s more to NYC than the “trendy” neighborhoods most UWSers spend their time in when they travel outside the UWS. It’s also much needed competition and a “safety valve” to make sure the MTA and NJ Transit can provide good service and provide the best service they can to those who would benefit from it most. Think about it, every time a person boards a NJ Transit train to NYC, NJ loses income and sales tax revenue to NY. Jersey City and Hoboken among other places have gentrified so much and places like Newark can easily be made up and coming so much, that NJ can decide to walk away from providing transit to NYC in order to force businesses to locate to NJ if they want to get labor supply and get NJ residents to spend money. If you want to compare NYC to Europe, East and West Berlin had parallel economies for decades. NJ can really force the same thing if they really are pushed to.
What percentage of cars parked on the UWS belong to people who don’t live here but work, shop, conduct business, go to school, patronize cultural institutions, have doctors appointments, attend religious services and actually love the neighborhood? All making meaningful contributions to the neighborhood.
They can make an even more meaningful contribution to the neighborhood by leaving their polluting death machine at home and taking a subway, or contribute funds to a local garage
No Garrison, You sound bitter and jealous. Many people have cars parked on the street for many reasons. You demonize them without having any facts.
Until the early 1950s it was illegal to park cars overnight on the street. Streets were seen as transportation not long-term parking.. We could revive that rule, accommodating all of the people you mention.
Maria that no parking overnight rule was a rule that was impractical and not enforced.
That is my point. There are plenty of people who do not live on the UWS but drive to work early in the morning to work in stores or buildings.. I don’t know what they will fo
Where do all these commuters find free parking every day?
I could make an argument that the people with cars are paying most of the taxes in NYC which makes it better for the very loud and angry majority.
What would your basis be for such an argument? They do pay sales tax on parking – oh, but we’re talking about the people who don’t pay to park at all, so no sales tax.
NYC’s largest source of revenue is property taxes. Other important taxes are on personal income, business income, sales, hotel occupancy, mortgages and property transfers. There are no taxes related to cars. There would be a car registration fee, but it is not a significant source of revenue for the City. Not mentioned at all in the Comptroller’s quarterly report – https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/new-york-city-quarterly-cash-report/.
Yes they do. You know how? Many of them come to serve the UWS as well as people and buildings and since that is working class those people are the most taxed they actually pay the most taxes.
How many working class people in NY have a car?
Everyone who lives in other boroughs.
Of the four primary doormen who staff my building, I think three of the four drive here – I think they have a system where they try to give their spots to each other. They generally live in areas that don’t have great public transit and/or are coming and going at odd hours so understandably prefer to drive. There are many others like them – many of the most affordable places to live are not well-served by public transit. Perhaps if people left their UWS bubble a bit more they would know about this, rather than sitting at their keyboards telling others how to live their lives. This is why America hates us – we are a bunch of ignorant know-it-alls.
If you and your building are so lion hearted and oh so worried about the working class, let the charity begin at home and pool your building’s residents’ funds to get a dedicated parking spot(s) at a local garage. I don’t live in your building, why am I subsidizing free parking for the people who work there? You should do that.
I don’t send kids to school, so why am I subsidizing your kids’ school? I don’t use the library, so why are we funding libraries? I don’t use the M10 bus, why are we funding it when it parallels the B and C trains?
I would love to see the numbers that show that the 15,000 households using on street parking pay more taxes than the 115,000 that don’t. We know car owners are about twice as wealthy as non-car owners, but they don’t pay 7x per household in taxes.
And even if they did, their tax payments have nothing to do with the fact that they own cars and get free parking on the street. They can afford to pay for parking.
But where will they park? Are we building garages?
UWS’ zoning doesn’t allow for new garages without a special permit that’s not easy to get and requires CB approval.
The city in all their wisdom did away with the rule that all new buildings must have garages so now any garages that exisat are too expensive even for the middle class. Lets get this rule back in place.
Yes. I could never understand that. Maybe garage lobby pushed so that rates could remain high.
Permits for on street parking would add a great deal of revenue to the city and possibly push long term parkers to find less costly space out of Manhattan.
Fantastic! This will be huge in getting piles of trash bags off the sidewalk. I’m sure drivers will recognize the benefit for the neighborhood instead of prioritizing their narrow self interest.
There will still be huge piles of recycling on the sidewalk on the days that is collected. And the brown compost bins will be out of their days. This is just for garbage.
Not correct. There are separate bins for recycling.
Good! Get a garage if you need a car, free parking is not a right.
Yes! only rich people should be entitled to own a car in NYC. The middle class family of four can go jump in a lake. The nurse working swing, fugghedaboutit. etc etc.
What a selfish and all too common POV
They simply forgot quality of life The anger over cars is totally unreasonable. Let them redesign these ugly monsters to sit on the sidewalk.
If the goal is to support the less fortunate, why is it that free parking odds a greater priority than free housing?
Peter Nigrini,
Would you not agree that the theatre sector depends on workers and equipment that comes via vehicle?
Not even talking about audiences – just the workforce and infrastructure
Garages are closing down, there’s reduced parking allowed with zoning and now this. Build garages if you want cars in garages.
They took away the law that new buildings had to have garages> How stupid can they get.
I’m all for getting trash into the bins!
At the same time, how ironic that it may mean blocks lined with bins as pictured here. While this is way better than trash on the sidewalks, we are clearly solving one problem by making another. It’s hard to believe there isn’t a solution that isn’t also a permanent eyesore.
(and as for the loss of parking spots, a block lined with cars is no beauty either)
Do you have a suggestion?
How is the installation of bids on the street adjacent to the sidewalk “another problem”? (Other than for those who will have more difficulty finding free parking?)
Agreed. So ugly. Surely there’s a more attractive alternative.
Let’s have a big neighborhood competition to paint the bins! More art, less trash, less rats!
Don’t worry; they’ll be covered with graffiti soon enough. The flat dull gray expanses are perfect canvases for the spray can contingent.
Great now our cities will be riddled with these hideous looking trash bins EVERYWHERE. They don’t look good in Europe, they certainly wont look good here. Lets drive (pardon the pun) more of our tax base out of the city. As our mayor says free trash bins for everybody!
If clearing the cub of obstruction altogether was on the table, great, but it is not. The choices on the table are, an eyesore for the private use of an individual, vs an eyesore that is a public good. I’ll take the latter any day.
Cars are more attractive than these bins and car parking is for the use of people whom public transportation has its limits. 15 minute cities wouldn’t be a thing if urbanists themselves didn’t realize that public transportation has its limits.
Are the closed bins more hideous than the piles of pilfered garbage bag?
Bags are out a total of 20 hours a week most of which are overnight.
Bins are 24/7.
There’s ways with technology and GPS to have the trash pickup setout and pickup times arranged for larger buildings. Basically you will have traditional rear loading trucks for smaller buildings and side loading trucks for larger buildings which is duplicative.
Simple as that! with a little bit more organizing and discipline they could be much shorter than 20hrs. Its just a question of will!
And the property values will plummet.
Garbage bins will make property values plummet, but giant bags of trash oozing out onto the street and becoming a feeding frenzy for rats wouldn’t?
Garbage bins are there 24/7 and rats still get in and people throw stuff adjacent to them which is a nightmare for building supers. Garbage bags are there for a couple hours tops and it can be better coordinate to avoid a loss of parking.
I think these bins are about neutral compared to a parked car using the same space.
Parked cars are cleaner than a garbage bin and many cars are decently attractive and provide way more utility.
Given that we are all supposed to be composting food scraps, why do the rats want the treash? Mine is almost all plastic bags and plastic wrap. Maybe ticketing the non-composters will help the rat problem.
I just spent $600+ on rat chewed wires in my street parked car, so I’m all in favor of this! It actually makes the street parking safer for cars!
How many times do you actually use your car?
I love it. Then make everyone with a car pay extra taxes and pelt them with rotten vegetables.
To be fair, car owners do pay extra taxes! Registration, gas tax, sales tax on the vehicle + service and parts, etc.
Paying for parts and service on your own car is not a tax, it’s the cost of owning a car.
Also the government saved labor and other costs on not providing public transit and dealing with the politics of trying to appease customers who would cost more subsidy to provide adequate service for.
Oh, come on!! The Uppere West Side is the most artistic neighborhood! Let’s get together with neighbors, schools, nd churches, social orgs, etc. to make the streets beautiful and artistic! Murals
! Graphic short stories! Poems! Community notices like tag sales, concerts, art and music exhibits! Let your creativity Flower; we don’t have to be a brown plastic town!
We’re just about as un-artistic a neighborhood as it gets in Manhattan at this point! Especially youngsters, the creatives can’t afford to live here anymore.
Maybe one of our city’s various mural projects can take on the project to beautify the bins? Work with local schools? Have a neghborhood by neighborhood contest? That sounds like something the Mayor could get behind. Make the bins decorative as well as functional. What does a free parking space add to civic welfare in comparison? And how many of those nurses, special ed teachers, building maint. workers already can’t find a free space? Not having bins lining the street won’t change that.
A free parking space adds a lot to civic welfare, you won’t realize it until it’s gone.
All of those with a childish, irrational hatred of cars can rejoice as they can stick it to the car owners. Note that I do not own a car and I am supportive of parking fees for cars, but this is not enough for these people. They want to stick it to the car owners, and only have joy when others are unhappy. Very Trumpy if you ask me.
These bins are gigantic and hideous. Isn’t there a better answer? And is there a way to clean them out – what if, for example, a full carton of orange juice is accidentally spilled in the bin. Will it just sit there forever?
I’m not sure what the right answer is. But this doesn’t seem to be it.
Couldn’t agree more Leon. And oh if you need a car in NY to drive to your 2:00 am shift as a nurse at a hospital in the Bronx you’d better quit your job because garbage bins and a bunch of elites who work at home or midtown don’t think a city should have privately owned cars!
1. Take the subway, like the rest of us.
2. Live in a less expensive neighborhood in the Bronx, where population density is much lower and you might even have a driveway.
3. Pay for parking.
Don’t make the rest of us put up with huge bags of trash with rats crawling in and out because you want free street parking.
Rats are nocturnal and take advantage of longer term periods that garbage is out there, they could easily have garbage set out times at 6 am and collection at 7 am if they wanted to.
neighbor! Not ver neighborly of you to comment! Wow, such insensitivity and lack of comprehension to make such assumptions about Susan. Perhaps the location for the Nurse occupation in the Bronx is not near any transit stop or station (bus or subway) and even if it was it could also not be within walking distance from either one especially at 2am! Additionally, perhaps parking in a garage is not within Susan’s budget? Perhaps moving is not an option because Susan has kids in a local school and cannot find good schools up in the Bronx?
Much better use of public space than (yes, I’ll say it) restaurant sheds. I’m neutral about saving versus losing parking spaces but this is an actual benefit for everyone so I’ll vote yes.
So if I understand it, the following is OK on the streets?:
Uber
Amazon delivery
Restaurant seating in the street
Food trucks
New trash bins
Citibike
Reserved street space in front of expensive hotels
Tech exec who can afford to park in garage
But a big No if you are:
a night shift security guard driving in for work?
a building maintenance worker living far away driving in for work?
driving in to help elderly relative who has no other resources?
a special ed teacher on the West Side driving to a school in a remote Bronx area not near the subway?
No I don’t drive – but know people who do.
All of the people in your “no” list are still welcome to drive and will still be able to park on the street for free.
Although it will be much much harder. There’s ways to manage garbage without taking parking.
Ew trash
With all the car hate going on here, has anyone noticed how god-awful these things look? Is there a better, more visually accommodating way to contain the trash? We’ll never know.
But, commence cutting off your noses to spite your face. I’m here for the rhetoric.
No one mentioning that these bins are hideous and will be permanently out on the street.
Yep, just like a car. The difference is this is a public utility on public space, rather than publicly subsidized storage for private property.
I know, it is a total inconvenience to lose more parking spots. I was annoyed when we lost some to Zip car. But let me just say from the time the bins were installed on our block, we have seen a dramatic, and I do mean dramatic, decrease in the number of rats!
When did you get the bins? When did your area require composting?
How many rats did you see before COVID? Before outdoor dining?
Queue the cascade of comments: Whatever it is, I’m against it!
There are lots of comments about the impact this will have on car owners and how they need a lobby, but nobody has written about the devastating impact of Empire trash bins on cute locally born and bred UWS rats, who will be losing their favorite dining establishments (especially after they’ve already lost their favorite dining spot, the old Absolute Bagels). If anyone needs lobbying and community support, it’s the rats!!
Trash bins would be an amazing improvement to the entire city. I own a car, it’s a privilege not a right, and certainly not for free! For Free. For Free. So pay for a spot, ditch your car, or move out of the neighborhood.
You’re an elitist. The subtext of your comment is “I got the money to live here – you don’t – so, why don’t you just leave?”
Fred’s comment is not at all elitist. It is simple common sense. I did not move into manhattan until I could afford it. Took me many years but I was finally able to do it. By working hard, living in an affordable area of Queens and saving as much money as I possibly could. No one gave me anything. I didn’t expect anything. All I did was work hard and not spend money on unnecessary things. And now I’m here in Manhattan. That certainly doesn’t make me an elitist!
It is way past time to take these serious measures to address one of New York City’s worst problems. Mounds of trash are a blight in our neighborhoods, and these bins, long used in European cities, will help.
The next major step must be increasing the fines for businesses and buildings who fail to comply with Sanitation laws, and actually collecting these fines. Much more enforcement is needed in terms of Sanitation laws! As it stands now, most businesses ignore the laws with impunity!
You could always cut down the hours the bags are on the street and there’s technology to address this. But urbanists do not want to.
If the city would seriously enforce composting rules, there would be nothing in the black bags for rats to eat. The composting law was created to rid our streets of rats. Our neighborhood is composting and rat sightings have seemed to disappear. The black garbage bags are lawfully put out at 8pm and picked up usually before morning – so I would rather not have potentially smelly garbage bins sitting outside my apartment 24/7. How long before these bins become covered with graffiti and advertisements like our mailboxes?
Of course, a high percentage of the remaining spaces will be taken by out of state cars because the City Council reneged on the plan for residential parking permits. On our block we have often seen SUVs from faraway states including Texas hogging two spaces. Other municipalities have residential parking permits—why can’t New York?
Agree 100%. Also, permit costs could be adjusted to some metric, like income, neighborhood, etc., to lessen to burden as needed.
Less parking means more visibility at crosswalks, making our neighborhood safer for everyone — especially young children and anyone with physical disabilities. This is great news!!
A empire bin will not ensure more visibility. Outoor dining sheds have made visibility worse. At least a parked car gives a spot of pedestrian refuge.
The staff serving our building, all 11 of them, are driving to work from outer boroughs with no convenient public transportation available near their residences. And they work shifts, so traveling at night is even less a viable option. All these commenters talking about taxes and paying for parking garage, and saying only rich people own cars, what a tight elite bubble you live in. You may claim to care about less fortunate but you are just virtue signaling.
If they cannot walk to public transportation, they can drive to public transportation and park there. Simple. That is what I used to do when I lived in south Queens.
Margie,
I don’t drive.
Recently my relative attended a work meeting in NJ.
She got a ride out in the morning with a colleague – took 30 minutes.
On the way back, she had to take a bus from NJ to the Port Authority and then subway – 2 hours in total
Here’s an easy fix: Put the containers where the trash bags used to be, in line with the trees.
Result: Zero parking spots lost.
I believe the trash truck picks them up with a mechanical arm so there cannot be a car between the bin and the truck.
what an ugly streetscape idea loading sidewalks and curb spaces with these ugly bins. How will the street brooms clean these street gutters. plus sidewalks will have giant ugly Biins blocking access. “my house is the one with ten bins outside” . Not a practical solution to NYC Sanitation.
Everyone knows that rent stabilized apartments and abundant free parking are the God given rights of all UWSiders who have lived here more than 40 years.
I am concerned that they will decrease the ability to perceive oncoming e-bikes, thus potentially lead to more pedestrian/e-bike collisions . While it is difficult to determine from photos the height of these bins, it does not appear to be much different from the height of a parked car. The difference is that a moving E-bike can be perceived thru the windows of parked cars by people of varying heights, while these bins create a fully solid wall that only the tall can see over.
Wonderful News! I just wish that we were getting more than 1400 of these bins, 3000 would be much better, or perhaps one on every single block throughout the 5 boroughs!! As for the outraged car owners, I have ZERO sympathy, I do know it is a real hardship for many but most car owners here don’t actually need their cars!! I see the same cars consistently parked on my block that only get moved for the street cleaners and alternate side rules. …. Anything that might push a car owner to rethink their ownership works for me.
As pointed out in these comments, many people do rely on their cars for work. But I guess those peasants don’t get your sympathy.
I live in the UWS and have a car. I am for these new trash bins, even if we’ll lose a significant portion of parking spaces. I would then recommend the following:
1. ASP goes down to 1x/week, and the street sweepers ACTUALLY clean during that one day. You wanna bring back the yellow stickers? Sure, but PLEASE sweep on the days AND once they’ve passed, let drivers leave their cars and not get unnecessary tickets!
2. The number of nasty comments in this forum are quite disappointing. I’m in the same boat as @daretodo, and it’s one thing to be for these containers and another thing to be an absolute jerk about it. The world could use fewer a-holes…
3. Residential. Parking. Permits. Please.
Here’s one; My house is the one with
the ten Bins!
There is more than one problem here. The Upper west side has a terrible bus system no select busses on the main streets like Broadway. We also have many people the come here to work and the only way to get here is by car. The city refuses to have resident parking passes which could add to their revenue. Lastly these gastly looking things are beyond an eysore and a redesign that puts them on the sidewalk might be more feasable. and more attractive.
Cars can definately add to quality of life for many people but the city in all their wisdom stopped making new construction build gagages. Now garages can cost as much as rent and are totally unaffordable..
I just read all the comments. I have a car and a garage. I’m all for it. But I loved the back and forth on this . As my old boss, Mario Cuomo once put it, in New York, a day gone by without a good argument is a missed opportunity. Keep up the dialogue UWSers!!!!
Garages are closing on the UWS. There’s incentives for more housing rather than parking. At the end of the day, I think those supporting parking removal are taking the organic desirability for the UWS for granted. No one wants to make transfers to try to get here. How many UWS residents supporting this or supporting parking permits are willing to take a long transit trip themselves? How many would go on a Hinge or Bumble date where they have to switch trains or not along the 1/2/3 or B/C to get to their love interest?
Good!!
76% of households on the UWS are car-free. Losing 10% of legal, on-street, free parking in exchange for cleaner sidewalks seems great.
Great news! The scarce street space should be used for things we all need. No reason that the few car owners in our city make things so inconvenient for everyone else.
How will the trash bin locations get selected? Imagine owning a front-facing apartment on a shady side street in the West End Riverside Historic District and having your view changed overnight to these unsightly monster trash bins? Then seeing that your neighbor’s view two small buildings away remains the same as when their investment decision was made? Please don’t do it! Trash collection works just fine right now! Save our beautiful and historic UWS from these monstrous permanently placed trash boxes!
They are ugly. And they are permanently there. There’s got to be a better solution.
Another element of visual ugliness in a city getting uglier all the time.
I don’t have a car but know a number who do. They aren’t wealthy people. Just an example: One of my doormen drives to our building from PA everyday. How else is he supposed to get here on time and get back home at a decent hour without being totally exhausted? Why don’t we get rid of some of the numerous citibike docking spots and return them to car parking spaces? Wealthy car owners park in garages so the working class people need the street spaces. They keep losing more and more of them to either private businesses like the citibikes or government mandates such as the new bins. They don’t have a lobby to fight for their interests and many people have an unreasonable animosity towards them.
This is the way to go! I always wanted to live behind a Kroger’s supermarket.
Please NYC, pay some artists to make these less ugly. Every one of these could be individually painted
They will be individually painted – by graffiti “artists”.
I would like to store my excess possessions on the street in front of my building, taking up a space, say, 6′ wide into the street and 20′ along the curb. And I’d like to do it 24/7/365, at absolutely no charge. Is this not my God-given entitlement?
If that person parking on the street is someone who lives elsewhere and can’t afford to live in Manhattan or trendy NYC, I have no problem with that. I’d rather give them curbside space so they can live elsewhere affordably and the character of the UWS maintained. I’d rather also give them “free car storage” then have to increase bus and rail service and then have to deal with the political friction of finding suitable land for new train yards and new bus depots.
People who drive allows for less political friction when higher subsidy transit service needs to be reduced. It’s a safety valve to allow transit systems to make hard decisions that no elected official wants to be held directly accountable for. “Free car storage” is what allows our transit system to efficiently run, is much needed competition for the transit system to make sure it is doing a good job, it is also what allows neighborhoods like the UWS to maintain the character of the community because if the UWS had to meet the housing needs of everyone who works, owns a business or wants to live here, you would have to remove much of the UWS from the historic district and do a massive redevelopment project like what Robert Moses did to create Lincoln Center, probably involving Empire State Development using eminent domain to condemn property on the UWS.
You think most cars are 20 feet long? 🙂
Cook from scratch at home. Bring your coffee in a thermos. Cut out the vaping. These things would cut down on some of the unnecessary waste everyday. It would be good to figure out how to generate less trash.
The bins shouldn’t be in the street. They should be on the sidewalk close to the curb where the garbage is already. Problem solved.
Cars as private office spaces. Sit in your car, idling the engine, a/c on, spewing out exhaust at the rest of us, blowing your cigarette smoke out the window….. The UWS streets/sidewalks are overcrowded. What are your priorities? Cars, sidewalk/street cafes, a dog walker with 5 dogs or someone walking a dog unconsciously while texting on a phone? NYC real estate is expensive. Maybe we could be allowed to use parking spaces for other things besides just cars. Store your stuff in large containers during a day when you’re decluttering…..! SOMETHING!
I think all these street improvements are plain ugly. There seems to be no attempt to think beyond concrete slabs, huge metal bins, barricades for pedestrian safety. I think many of these improvements are necessary but if they were done in a more attractive and inviting way, there might not be so much derision.
This is simply the latest in a series of steps (many of them seemingly small) the city has taken over the past 15 years or so to achieve it’s ultimate — but unstated — goal: elimination of privately-owned cars in Manhattan. Of course the car-envious will rejoice, and the haters will enjoy their schadenfreude. So will the car rental companies and other Uber, Lyft et al.
Related NYC trash news:
Upstate community unhappy with landfill from NYC trash.
https://gothamist.com/news/new-york-citys-trash-is-causing-a-stink-in-this-upstate-town
To begin with, I’m not a car owner. That being said, I’ve never read so many petty and hateful comments in one thread before! Exactly when did this trend of twisting the words ‘parking spot,’ into ‘free storage,’ begin, and more importantly why does anything presented here DEVOLVE right back to this discussion?!
Some of you need to take a step back and think about why this is having such a diverse affect on you. 🤯