{"id":368165,"date":"2026-10-08T20:10:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368165\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T20:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:10:50","slug":"mamdani-admin-considers-charging-for-more-parking-spots-but-not-as-a-moneymaker-dot-commissioner-flynn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/368165\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani admin considers charging for more parking spots, but not as a moneymaker: DOT Commissioner Flynn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Expanding metered street parking and introducing dynamic pricing at the curb are \u201cvery much something\u201d Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration is \u201clooking at,\u201d but it should be driven by policy and not a desire to raise revenue, Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Flynn made the comments during an Oct. 8 New York Law School event, when he was asked to shed more light on First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan\u2019s remarks earlier this year that charging drivers<\/a> for more of the city\u2019s abundant free parking spaces was under consideration within the administration. At the time, Fuleihan framed the proposal as a way to help the city fill a sizable budget gap<\/a>, which it has since closed \u2014 although outyear deficits remain.<\/p>\n

When asked to give an update on Fuleihan\u2019s remarks on Thursday, Flynn said that DOT\u2019s recently created Office of Curb Management<\/a> is weighing an expansion of metered parking as one of several tools for better regulating the city\u2019s curb space.<\/p>\n

\u201cPricing is just one tool, right? There\u2019s a whole toolbox. That\u2019s why we created this team,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cIf there\u2019s places where better pricing of the curb would really help the curb work better for everybody, then that should be on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CityFILE \u2013 City Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn.Photo by Ethan Stark-Miller<\/p>\n

Flynn said the current system, under which close to all (97%) of the city\u2019s nearly 3 million street parking spaces are free, is not functioning well for anyone.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, in Flynn\u2019s view, free parking allows drivers to leave their vehicles in spaces for long periods of time without getting charged. As a result, it becomes more difficult for other drivers to find open spots, delivery workers to make drop-offs, restaurant owners to build outdoor dining setups, the city to place containerized trash bins, and disabled New Yorkers to make it to their Access-a-Ride paratransit vans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0system as it currently works doesn\u2019t work that great,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cIf you\u2019re someone who needs a car for a particular trip, for whatever reason, like you should be able to find a parking spot without having to circle for a half hour, right? If you\u2019re a business that needs to get a delivery, you should be able to get your delivery without them having to double park\u2026If you need an Access-a-Ride, you should be able to connect to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Flynn emphasized that he would not want such an expansion to be guided by the need to bring more revenue into the city\u2019s coffers. He said that is because while charging for parking might work in some parts fo the city, there are other more car-dependent areas where it could create a financial burden for residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the city is a very diverse place,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cThere\u2019s neighborhoods that are more car dependent. There\u2019s neighborhoods that are very dense and transit-friendly. You can\u2019t do a one-size-fits-all\u00a0approach. So it\u2019s\u00a0very much something we\u2019re looking at. But it\u2019s a\u00a0big thing to unpack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ending free parking should be about \u2018efficiency,\u2019 experts say<\/p>\n

Sam Schwartz \u2014 the transportation guru who once led the city\u2019s Department of Traffic, a forerunner to the DOT \u2014 said that while there could be a lot more revenue in expanding metered parking, he thinks Flynn is taking the \u201cright approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people that are talking about monetizing the streets of New York, and numbers have been thrown out, anywhere from a billion to $12 billion could be reaped by charging people for parking,\u201d Schwartz told amNewYork. \u201c[But] curb management should be about what\u2019s best for the city, and not just about revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to Mamdani naming him as DOT commissioner, Flynn worked for Schwartz at his firm Sam Schwartz City Solutions for several years.\n<\/p>\n

Sara Lind, executive director of the advocacy group Open Plans, echoed Schwartz\u2019s sentiment that while metered parking generates revenue, that should not be the primary reason for expanding it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an efficiency tool,\u201d Lind said. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to keep our curbs moving and keep producing availability for people to park. We are figuring out how to continually manage the demand for a competitive public space. And revenue is raised, but that\u2019s the side effect, not the purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuleihan\u2019s comments earlier this year came not long after the think tank, The Center for an Urban Future, released a policy paper<\/a> arguing that the city should meter more of its parking spaces as a revenue raiser. The group also recommended other changes such as introducing dynamic pricing \u2014 a model that adjusts meter rates depending on the time of day\u2014 and creating a residential permitting system.<\/p>\n

The group projected that the city could raise an additional $1.21 billion in revenue annually by metering 25% more of its parking spaces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Expanding metered street parking and introducing dynamic pricing at the curb are \u201cvery much something\u201d Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[14927,20784,98768,111721,22925,136040,9,24,63,136041,122,124,123,114269],"class_list":["post-368165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-city-budget","tag-dean-fuleihan","tag-department-of-tranportation","tag-dot-commmissioner-mike-flynn","tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","tag-metered-parking","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-office-of-curb-management","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sam-schwartz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}