Image credit: New York City Council.
On September 28, 2023, the City Council voted to approve Int. 906-A, which requires the City to create off-street parking for tractor trailers. The bill, sponsored by Council Member Justin Brannan, aims to get commercial trucks illegally parked on residential roads onto designated spaces.
The bill requires an agency or office to be designated by the Mayor to establish three or more locations for off-street commercial parking by 2025. A report must be submitted to the Mayor and Speaker of the Council regarding how the sites were selected. Eligible sites can include city-owned property and property owned by other government entities that the city can contract with.
As city data shows that 80 percent of packages are for residential deliveries, commercial trucks are frequently found in residential neighborhoods. When tractor trailers and commercial trucks are illegally parked on residential streets, it removes parking spaces for residents, causes traffic issues, and blocks access to the curb and bike lanes.
Council Member Brannan stated, “In districts like mine all across the outer boroughs, tractor-trailers and commercial trucks illegally parking overnight on residential streets has long been an unsolved and intractable problem. Every day, 3.6 million packages are delivered within the five boroughs. Each year, some 365 million tons of cargo passes through the City of New York and nearly 90 percent of that cargo is still carried by truck. This commerce and these workers are absolutely crucial to our city’s economy. We have an insufficient number of designated areas for truck parking in this city, and my bill would fix that. Our residential streets shouldn’t look like a Flying J truck stop and our cops shouldn’t be forced to play Whac-A-Mole towing these vehicles every night. Just as truck drivers shouldn’t be forced to roll the dice parking their rigs on residential streets overnight and risk getting a ticket because the City of New York hasn’t established locations for them to park legally. Solutions for both truck drivers and our constituents that have been dealing with illegal truck parking are long overdue.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)