Alternate side parking is suspended in the five boroughs starting Wednesday and will remain in effect until March 24, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
The order comes as the Big Apple continues to grapple with the spreading coronavirus.
“This is for one week, for seven days,” the mayor said. “This will give us an opportunity to evaluate the impact and see if its something we want to do on a longer-term basis.”
De Blasio resisted the order and dithered over it for days, causing outrage among New Yorkers seeking to avoid tickets while self-isolating.
Hizzzoner said the city will re-evaluate the decision after the first week. He said one consideration is the ability for the sanitation department to continue to clean streets.
“Doing it for a week to see how it goes makes all the sense in the world,” he said. “Doing it throughout a crisis that could easily reach months upon months is a bigger question mark. There is a real connection between clean streets, clean neighborhoods, and overall health care.”
New Yorkers on Tuesday said it was high time alternate side was restricted.
“It should have been done days ago,” said Rocco Generoso, 40, who owns Rocco’s Bakery in Bay Ridge. “If businesses are losing all their revenue, people getting laid off and they are getting everybody for $65 [tickets] like they did yesterday, while all of us are worrying about our next dollar.”
Local restaurant manager Josephine Santoro agreed.
“You’re quarantined and you gotta worry about moving your car every couple of days?” said Santoro, 46 “It makes no sense. Crazy.”
But Bay Ridge landlord James Mandelino, 56, said the mayor’s move doesn’t go far enough.
“They need to suspend the meters too,” he said. “All non-essential stuff. Is this a crisis or what?”