DEIS: Parking concerns; Impacts or results of increased parking

IMPACTS OR RESULTS OF INCREASED PARKING

Draft EIS states:

...representing a net addition of approximately 3,022 spaces above existing parking supplies—would make it easier for fans driving to games to park closer to the stadium, resulting in less circulation on local streets in search of the currently often hard-to-find parking spaces.

(1) the proposed project would provide Yankees fans with thousands of new parking spaces close to the proposed stadium, thus relieving the area of excessive traffic circulation pre-game as motorists would no longer have to circulate on local streets in search of hard-to-find parking spaces, especially on sellout game days; (2) the proposed project would also eliminate some illegal parking on local streets and on
the service road of the northbound Major Deegan Expressway since the parked cars could now be accommodated within off-street parking lots and garages; (3) the proposed project would result in a shift of vehicular traffic from some currently used traffic routes to others, primarily to streets such as Jerome Avenue, the Macomb’s Dam Bridge Approach, River Avenue, and others;

The additional parking would not have a substantial effect on the residential desirability of the study area since it is accessory parking for stadium patrons only.

Similarly, the additional parking spaces proposed for the proposed stadium would not substantially affect the study area’s economic conditions, as that additional parking would be used as accessory parking reserved for stadium patrons only.

Response:

The location of more parking closer to the stadium than where it is today would likely mean that less people would be walking by local businesses on the way from their cars to the stadium and back. This would mean less opportunities for fans to shop at these businesses, thus having a potential negative impact on them.

The parking would not be available to the community to use on non-game days. This is not appropriate. If the community has to put up with looking at ugly parking Structures all year and dealing with the traffic they cause, then they should at least get to use them.