Friday, February 5, 2010

Roosevelt Island Residents Still Unable To Park By Empty Street and Lot On Queens Side Of Goldwater Hospital But Some Park In Tennis Club Lot

Empty Weekend Street On Queens Side of Goldwater Hospital

A post from last October reported:
Some Southtown residents living in Roosevelt Island's Riverwalk buildings are not very happy with the lack of parking spaces close to their apartments. They complain of very few street parking spots and being too far from the Motorgate Parking garage for it to be convenient.

As a result, they have been parking on the Queens side street adjacent to Goldwater Hospital on weekends, when the street is nearly empty of employees and visitors, but have recently been advised of a decision by Goldwater to prohibit weekend parking on the that side of their facility....
Soon thereafter, RIRA President Frank Farance spoke with RIOC VP of Operations Fernando Martinez about the parking situation at Goldwater. Mr. Farance wrote in his October 9 RIRA message:
... Martinez is working with the Coler-Goldwater hospital to make some of the south campus employee parking available, which mostly benefits Southtown, Sportspark, and the tennis bubble.
Empty Weekend Goldwater Hospital Parking Lot

Are Roosevelt Island residents now allowed to park at the Queens side Goldwater Hospital Parking lot on weekends? I asked RIOC President Steve Shane:
Has there been any update to the weekend parking situation on the Queens side of Goldwater Hospital. I could be wrong but I seem to recall you indicating that a discussion was going on with the Hospital that would let residents park there on weekends. Several Riverwalk residents have been asking me about this and wondering if they can park there on weekends.
Mr. Shane replied by forwarding this statement from Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department Chief Keith Guerra.
No. Permission for residents to park there has not been granted. I believe your last response was that folks park at their own risk. If we receive a complaint,PSD will enforce.
Mr. Shane commented:
Fyi. Not a clear statement, but it is what it is.
Some Riverwalk residents are also illegally parking in the grass lot across from the Commons Area and Bar that is supposed to be reserved for the Tennis Club patrons during the Tram outage but which has been used by the Tennis Club for the past year even though the Tram has been in operation.


Southtown Parking Lot Used For Exclusive Benefit of Tennis Club

8 comments :

Anonymous said...

Shane said that the Hospital requested the change in the parking pollicy. Many find this difficult to believe. Since October, hardly any employees park there on the weekend. Consequently, the space is under-utilized.

Martinez said he would go back to the hospital to discuss and even advocate a change in the policy. That was several months ago. What is taking so long?

Anonymous said...

The distance to Motorgate is a HUGE drawback to living in Southtown. Look at Octagon, Queens West, Jersey City - every modern residential complex built today outside of Manhattan (and face it, folks - we're outside of Manhattan) includes parking. The first few above-ground levels of the unbuilt Southtown ought to contain parking.

Anonymous said...

I would love to see Roosevelt Island to be car free. Wouldn't that be something we should work towards to?

Anonymous said...

I agree with anonymous saying that
"The distance to Motorgate is HUGE"
but it is the same distance as it has been from the beginning.

Conversely R.Island was planned to
be virtually car free on Main Street. The second "anonymous" dream was once reality.

RIOC is occassionally reactive but very rarely proactive (except when a snowstorm may be comming)

Anonymous said...

You knew the parking situation when you moved into Southtown. If the inconvenience is too much for you - you can always move.

We have enough complainers on the island. What we need are good neighbors who play by the rules.

Anonymous said...

Clearly you knew that Southtown would be developed so therefore YOU move! Parking in Southtown would cause LESS traffic, not more. You don't get the back and forth going to Motorgate (drop off, pick up, drop off, etc). Should we not have a tram because I don't use it? Should we not have a red bus because I don't use it? There would be less traffic so why not? BECAUSE IT ISN'T ALWAYS ABOUT ME! There should be public accomodation for all. Instead of fighting change, how about embracing it!

Anonymous said...

Owning a car is a privilege and not a right. If RI wants to make it hard to own a car I am all for it. There are way too many of those on this island where none are actually essential. We have cheap and decent public transit on this island. It is the perfect place to - gasp - walk.

The less parking opportunities on RI the better. Period. That's my opinion.

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