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Commentary By Eric Kober

Candidates Must Pledge to Strengthen ‘City of Yes’ to End Parking Mandates

Cities, Governance New York, New York City

Anyone not supporting the elimination of parking mandates is only perpetuating our city's housing crisis, says this planning expert.

The City Council’s recent compromise in passing Mayor Adams’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, watering down the original proposal’s elimination of mandatory parking, must be a central issue in the coming mayoral race.

Significant changes to the policy — which left some of the mayor’s attempt to reform costly parking mandates, but also retained the parking requirement in broad sections of the city — are unlikely until a new mayor and City Council take office, so future leadership should revisit the Planning Commission’s original City of Yes proposal, which prioritized housing growth while aligning with broader efforts to minimize car dependency. 

Manipulating parking requirements to slow housing construction worsens the city’s housing crisis. NYC needs bold leadership willing to prioritize long-term housing solutions over short-term political compromises.

Continue reading the entire piece here at StreetsBlogNYC

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Eric Kober is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He retired in 2017 as director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning at the New York City Department of City Planning. Follow him on Twitter here. This piece is based on a forthcoming report.

Photo by Terraxplorer/Getty Images