NYC residents may soon need permits to park their cars in their neighborhoods

As if it wasn't already hard enough to find a parking space in the city, the New York Senate just proposed a new residential parking permit system that would require residents to pay $30 a month to take over a spot in their respective neighborhoods.

The idea came from the Senate as a potential solution to the financial issues plaguing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). According to the New York Times, "the city would be allowed to charge up to $30 a month for a permit, and the revenues would be dedicated to the MTA." Specifically, the New York City council would be able to require passes in certain neighborhoods "with the aim of easing the difficulty that many residents have in finding street parking."

How exactly a neighborhood would be defined, how a permit would be enforced and the requirements for eligibility are all topics that, according to the proposal, would fall under the purview and decision-making of the city council. 

This isn't the first time that an idea of the sort was introduced at the government level. Back in 2018, a number of representatives from northern Manhattan made a similar recommendation as a way to basically disallow New Jersey and Westchester commuters to park cars in their neighborhoods and hop on a subway.

Clearly, the scheme never became reality and it seems like this latest attempt will also fall short as many lawmakers have already voiced their opposition to it. 

New York State Assemblymember Kenny Burgos, for example, noted on Twitter that "this is not even remotely feasible in 95% of neighborhoods in NYC."

Council member Justin Brannan also took to the platform to comment on the issue, simply stating "we never asked for this."

Alas, as usual, we'll have to wait and see what happens as the proposal will have to run through governor Kathy Hochul for approval. 

In other car-related developments, New York City council member Lincoln Restler recently pushed for a bill that would require the city start paying New Yorkers for reporting illegally parked automobiles all over town. Now that's a proposal we'll gladly get behind.