New York is undercutting its own plan for a greener, cleaner city with a policy that requires residential developments to build off-street parking for occupants, a new report charges.
About 170,000 more cars will be clogging the city by 2030, based on projected vehicle ownership for new housing developments, according to the report, “Suburbanizing the City,” being released today by Transportation Alternatives and a coalition of environmental advocates.
The projection was calculated by taking the 265,000 dwelling units forecasted by the city’s PlaNYC and multiplying the units by city-mandated parking requirements.
Adding that many cars to already-congested streets means another billion miles will be tacked on to the city’s annual mileage count by 2030, said Wiley Norvell, spokesman for Transportation Alternatives.
The emissions produced by the additional cars would more than wipe out the estimated 351,000 tons of greenhouse gases Mayor Bloomberg wants to eradicate through his “green” taxi initiative, Transportation Alternatives said.
“All this unnecessary parking could completely erase the city’s positive efforts to reduce congestion,” Norvell said.