Mayor Bloomberg seems finally to be getting serious on parking placard abuse by city workers. As reported in the New York Times, Post, Daily News, and Sun, Bloomberg is cutting placards issued to each eligible city agency by at least 20 percent, and restricting the issuance of permits to the NYPD and NYCDOT. Transportation Alternatives deserves a very hearty round of applause for their hard work to make this happen.

Now that the city seems to recognize the importance of parking in terms of traffic congestion and livability, the Campaign wonders if Bloomberg will now reconsider counter-productive proposed zoning changes that would flip maximum parking restrictions to minimum parking requirements in the Hudson Yards/Hell’s Kitchen area (see MTR # 565). Developer proposals for the Hudson Yards site alone promise between 460 and 1,450 new parking spaces.

The Mayor should also take seriously NYCDOT’s analysis of performance-based parking which would set curb parking at market rates (the Post reported that this could run as high as $15 an hour in Midtown). At the Dec. 10 Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission meeting, the NYCDOT-led research team found that several parking reforms could significantly reduce vehicle miles traveled and could be effective additions to a congestion pricing plan.