Most of a public municipal parking lot on White Plains Road is still covered with snow from the winter’s storms.
The White Plains Road Municipal Parking Field, located on 2071 White Plains Road between Maran Place and Brady Avenue, still has yet to be plowed or shoveled after NYC received an accumulation of over two feet (and counting) of snow this winter.
The 35,000 square foot parking lot, which currently holds 93 cars, including five handicap spots, is purposed for half-hour Muni meter parking and monthly parking, the latter of which requires a permit.
Half the spaces are reserved for permit parking and its these vehicles that are preventing the lot from being plowed because they don’t have to move for up to a month.
“Every winter, for years, I see this same occurrence take place,” said Elaine Feder, treasurer for the Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Assocation.
Feder, who is a longtime Pelham Parkway resident, also explained that the DOT and/or the Sanitation Department needs to take control of the situation and remove the snow before it turns to ice. “Somebody needs to take responsibility,” Feder added.
According to neighborhood businesses, since the lot is out of commission, parking is at a premium on White Plains Road and nearby streets.
“The fact that this municipal parking lot has not been cleared of snow has caused an issue for drivers looking to park in the lot as well as drivers looking to park on the street,” said Joe Thompson, who works across the street as executive director of the White Plains Road Business Improvement District.
“This issue definitely affects us (the BID) because when drivers can’t park in the municipal parking lot, they use up the limited street parking.”
Thompson has been trying to add more parking spaces in the White Plains Road Municipal Parking Field for years along with Community Board 11, but the process has been difficult, since residents living in nearby apartments have complained of exhaust and gas emissions from pre-parked cars in the past.
“Sanitation groups have maintained the White Plains Road strip, and have done a great job clearing the area of snow after each storm,” said Thompson. “It’s harder to clear the snow from a municipal parking lot when the lot isn’t empty of cars. If there was a way that the city could communicate with the lot’s permit holders about when they should move their cars during a snowstorm, clearing this lot would prove to be a lot easier.”
Additional reporting contributed by Robert Wirsing
