Reynoso and Restler Say Use Extra Space for Affordable Housing and Walking: Not Parking Spaces

By Yehudit Garmaise

NYC requires real-estate developers to use up precious space on the city’s streets to build extra parking spaces to compensate for the ones they take up with construction, however, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, think the additional parking spots would be better used to build affordable housing or create more space to walk.

“So many times, developers come to us and say, ‘It is fiscally impossible for us to give people affordable housing because we have to drill two-to-three stories below ground to build parking,’” said Reynoso. “We’re saying, ‘You don’t need to do that anymore.’”

While the city says the zoning rule salvages parking in areas that see a lot of new construction, Renoso and Restler wonder why residents in areas with easy access to public transportation cannot hop on buses and trains, instead of into their cars, Councilman Restler, who represents District 33, in Williamsburg, told the Brooklyn Paper.

For instance, one Brooklyn developer who was building new construction one block from the G train, was required to build 24 extra parking spots, Streetsblog reported.

“Accessory parking in buildings disrupt Brooklyn’s urban fabric and makes our city less affordable and less walkable,” read the letter the borough president and the city councilman wrote to the DCP.”