Community

New Erev Shabbos Parking Rules in Williamsburg

Wednesday, June 8, 2022 1:15 pm | 2 Minute Read

By Matis Glenn

BROOKLYN — Preparations for Shabbos in the winter months are about to get easier for residents of Williamsburg, as the vexing “no standing” rules for bustling Lee Avenue are being changed.

Effective June 10, two- and four-hour metered parking will replace the “no standing” regulations. Signs and meters are being updated this week to reflect the changes.

Previously, cars could not stop on the east side of the busy thoroughfare from 4p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Friday, to accommodate rush-hour traffic. When Shabbos starts before 7 p.m., this meant that huge swaths of available parking were left effectively unusable for shomrei Shabbos.

Department of Transit analysis showed that Fridays typically have less rush-hour traffic, and allowing parking during those times will not cause delays. It also showed that the change would not affect on the MTA’s B44 SBS bus route, among the city’s busiest lines.

Officials at a press conference Wednesday announcing the new parking regulations on Lee Avenue in Williamsburg. L-R: Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman of the UJO of Williamsburg; Joel Eisdorfer, the mayor’s senior advisor (partially obscured; Fred Kreizman, commissioner of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit; DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez; Councilman Lincoln Restler (at lectern); DOT Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Keith Bray; Rabbi Moishe Indig of the Williamsburg JCC; community activist Rabbi Abe Friedman; Williamsburg Shomrim coordinator Yanky Itzkowitz; Simon Weiser, vice chair of Brooklyn Community Board 1.

Williamsburg activists successfully lobbied the administration of Mayor Eric Adams on the issue, and the new regulations were announced Wednesday.

“I have always said I would be a mayor who listens to communities, and today we are showing how to listen to communities and ‘Get Stuff Done,” Adams said in a statement, invoking his administration’s motto . “These are common-sense changes to make our city work better for New Yorkers.”

“It’s been years that we’ve been asking to correct the rush hour restrictions and meter regulations on Lee Avenue that essentially restricts parking on both sides of the road for the entire Sabbath,” said Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman of the UJO of Williamsburg. “In the past, it went nowhere, until the arrival of the ‘GSD mayor’ and his great choice, [Department of Transportation] Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez.”

“We greatly appreciate the prompt response and action by the mayor and his administration to resolve and correct the long-ongoing issue on the main avenue at the center of the Williamsburg neighborhood with the parking restrictions on the Shabbos days, which affected the entire community,” said Rabbi Moishe Indig of the Williamsburg JCC.

mglenn@hamodia.com

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