Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams wants to reduce crowding on downtown Brooklyn streets by creating a car-share system for city vehicles, reports DNAinfo.
In a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Adams wrote, “There are at least half a dozen city agencies in the Downtown Brooklyn area, all of which have access to their own automobile fleet. The majority of these vehicles, when not in use are occupying parking spaces on Downtown Brooklyn’s overcrowded streets.”
He requests that the mayor’s office partner with city agencies to conduct a feasibility study for a municipal car-share, a plan he says would save taxpayer money, ease congestion and free up parking spaces.
In total, New York City owns about 11,000 sedans and SUVs. De Blasio already announced in December that he aims to reduce the environmental impact of city cars by replacing about 2,000 of them with electric vehicles, which would cut the city government’s vehicle emissions in half by 2025. The mayor’s spokesperson told the New York Times that reduced fuel costs could help offset the higher price of electric vehicles.
Atlantic City recently voted to eliminate city cars for council members altogether. After years of debate over whether they represented wasteful spending, the council unanimously decided to give up the privilege.
Adams said he also hopes a new system in NYC could clear the plaza around Brooklyn Borough Hall of most parked cars.
With open space limited in downtown Brooklyn, Adams’ letter to de Blasio states that the plaza should be open for pedestrians and recreational activity. “We must find the appropriate balance between prioritizing precious public space for active use and storing vehicles needed for public business,” he wrote.
New Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, on his first day in office last month, kicked cars off the City Hall’s plaza, a very visible pedestrian area where many had parked for years.
Jen Kinney is a freelance writer and documentary photographer. Her work has also appeared in Philadelphia Magazine, High Country News online, and the Anchorage Press. She is currently a student of radio production at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies. See her work at jakinney.com.
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