Politics & Government

Is Reduced Parking at Barclays a Good or Bad Thing? [POLL]

The ESDC has allowed Forest City Ratner to reduce parking at the soon-to-open Atlantic Yards arena from 1,100 to just under 550 spots. But will that help or hurt area residents?

Last week the head of the Empire State Development Corporation r surface lot from 1,100 to just under 550.

The move allows developer Forest City Ratner to throw out its plan for the loud and slow “stack-parking," which uses hydraulic lifts to load as many as four cars on vertical structures, which critics say will slow traffic to a crawl when the 18,000-seat arena .

Neighborhood activists have been pushing for reduced parking spaces for some time, arguing that fewer parking spaces mean fewer people will drive to the arena.

Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

However others argue that fewer spots will only lead to more cars competing for street parking.

In related news, Streetsblog reported that Forest City has reneged on its much-touted promise to build a staffed indoor bike parking facility in time for the arena opening. Instead, there will be standard outdoor racks until "building three" is constructed, if it ever is.

Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What do you think? Is reducing the number of parking spaces a good or bad thing?


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