No one is doubting that people come from great distances to use the park, but we are questioning the need to drive right into the park. Your solution is perfect. Stop the car near the park, and walk the remaining block or two to one’s destination inside the park. That’s reasonable, as people expect to see cars on the streets around the park, but few people expect to see cars in the park.

There are two ice-skating rinks in Brooklyn: Abe Stark at West 19th Street in Coney Island and the Lakeside Rink in Prospect Park. Abe Stark charges $8.00 admission; Prospect Park $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for children. (Skate rental is an added $4.50 at Stark, $5.50 at Prospect Park.)

We live in the South Slope roughly 4 miles from the Prospect Park rink. There’s no subway we could take to the Prospect Park rink, but a couple of buses (B68 + B61) would get us pretty close. Say I take 4 kids skating (2 of mine + 2 of their friends) by bus. That adds $20 for transport (and at least an hour to the round-trip time) to the $17 the Parks Department will charge us to skate. Alternatively, we could take the F to Coney, pay the higher rate at Abe Stark ($40.00 for the five of us) plus the $20 for round trip transport (time en route is roughly the same, assuming the availability of weekend service).

I confess I’ve routinely opted to drive the kids to the Prospect Park rink saving time and money. Would we use the rink if we couldn’t drive there? Certainly not as often as we do.

Maybe ice-skating has also become part of a suburban lifestyle.

We’re lucky that Prospect Park is so near our neighborhood. But Prospect Park isn’t just a neighborhood park. This holiday weekend, I expect I’ll see (as I have in the past) lots of families pulling their cars up along Prospect Park West to offload kids, coolers, folding chairs, and other gear to picnic/cook-out (even where it’s not “permitted”) in the Park. Are they working class? Don’t know for sure. But they’re not mythical.

But that’s not what people are saying, and the only way frequenters of Streetsblog could be labeled NIMBYs is if you count all of New York’s parks as our backyards. This is not a choice between people driving in Prospect Park, which I use frequently, or in a different park, which I do not use at all. It’s a choice between them driving in the park to get to the skating rink and commuter lot, or finding another way to do those things altogether.

We need to look at the factors causing people to drive in the park. If people have no other means of getting to the rink or in securing a place to “park and ride” to get to work, we should take that into consideration when coming up with a solution. That could come in the form of nominal parking fees, changing the traffic layout of the park to shorten the distance drivers must cover to access the lot, or finding municipal lots near the park and dedicating spots for people coming to ice skate.

Still, I would be willing to bet that the reason people drive in any park has more to do with the simple fact that it’s allowed and less to do with people’s inability to find other means of access to the park’s facilities.

By the way, I live in Park Slope, and will gladly speak out against allowing cars in any park in the five boroughs, regardless of whether or not it’s in my backyard. If I can’t afford a car, barely make my rent each month, and pay for my own health insurance, am I still a Park Slope yuppie?

For all those that are posting anti-car comments, please list your neighborhood. I am curious to see where all the hate is coming from.

Why, so you can stereotype us as Park Slope yuppies?

Please pay attention, the story is about the Lakeside Center skating rink. Those parks do not have skating rinks.

I was paying attention. People park in that parking lot year-round, for visits to the park and to catch the Q train. But even for ice skating, why should others put their lives on the line so that these mythical car owners can go skating? Why can’t they take an express bus to Rockefeller Center or Central Park? Or if they really want a suburban lifestyle, drive to Long Island?

Considering the subway and bus access to the park from an enormous range of neighborhoods, your argument of “NIMBYism” is ridiculous.

My family has a car, for work and visiting scattered family; I wouldn’t dream of driving it to the park.

Angus made a well reasoned argument, and you still have not adequately refuted it. BTW Angus, excellent point at #11.

Please pay attention, the story is about the Lakeside Center skating rink. Those parks do not have skating rinks.

Any discussion regarding parking in the park is moot.
There are at least several Bus lines and several Trains to the park.

da chef

no parking lot
no cars in the park
period

Well, Name, maybe these families can drive to Forest Park, Alley Pond Park and Cunningham Parks, all lovely parks that are not convenient to any subway lines. Floyd Bennett Field is interesting too.

If I can’t get to those places easily without a car, why should the driving families get to hog the roads, endanger park users and pollute the air in Prospect Park?

Something you nimbys might not realize is that not everyone lives in the area. Working class families, ones that would like to use the facilities, live in other neighorhoods, neighborhoods they can afford. Some of these neighborhoods do not convienient public transportation to the skating rink. Once again, slope yuppies trying to force the lower/middle-class out of the park. Please, the park is for everyone, share!

Parking with a fee is the best compromise.

I wasn’t aware, and really am surprised to learn, that there is free parking in the park at all.

The lot should be eliminated. Going from 300 to 150 spaces is a step in the right direction, but not sufficient.

Keep the pressure on and let’s get the right solution.