Steven Weber of D.O.T. Assistant Commissioner Office of Strategic Planning was there to repeat what others from the D.O.T. have been touting several times before him.

This was basically a repeat of several other “forums” conducted by PlaNYC and D.O.T. -Their presentation is set-up to go one-way, and the community’s questions are neither answered or addressed. Chinatown has had several of these meetings and I have attended them. At each meeting, a rosy picture of the future is painted by PlaNYC and the current and past problems are not addressed. There is not even a promise or committment from the D.O.T. that the questions will be addressed at any time in the future. What are we paying these people for?

1) There are no specific answers to the questions of parking placard abuse given by the D.O.T. Even though both Community Boards 2 and 3, and the 5th Pct, have requested permanent No Permit Parking signs to be posted by the D.O.T. in Chinatown, the D.O.T. has absolutely no answers to offer; no timetable offered for when permanent No Permit Parking signs, as requested, will be posted. These questions have been asked of the D.O.T. on multiple occasions.

Chinatown residents stated that placard parking abuse needs to be addressed before congestion pricing because of the City’s awful history of “exempting” government sector commuters from illegal parking. The Chinatown community told the D.O.T. that there is absolutely no credibility to the PlaNYC promise of “no exemptions” for the government sector, and that is why elimination of parking permit abuse is a prerequisite to congestion pricing.

2) Repeated inquiries about the results of the D.O.T. $400K study on permit abuse in Downtown Manhattan, that was supposed to be done last Spring of 2007, have also not been answered.

In short, the D.O.T. had nothing new to report and was ill-prepared to address current issues and questions. None of the community’s inquiries were answered.