Yes let's reduce residential parking requirements. If people aren't given the opportunity to park they will be less likely to own cars.

Studies (and common sense) indicate that forcing builders to provide additional parking spaces for cars begets more cars, which in turn begets more traffic. Particularly maddening are the requirements for tens of thousands of new parking spaces in targeted high-density development areas such as the far West Side of Manhattan. Parking requirements have a number of negative impacts: (1) Induced demand for cars and induced reliance on cars (2) increased cost of building (3) more dead space at the street level (4) additional curb cuts. These requirements are the legacy of a failed vision of planning, and should be eliminated.

What I would like to see is a requirement for secure bike parking. It makes good sense to encourage storage space for bicycles and strollers/carts at a level that is convenient to their use. I happen to live in a walkup and carrying my bike up and down three flights is the only unpleasant part of the experience.

A favorite blogger (Atrios) often points out that our best livable, walkable communities would be impossible to build today due to backwards zoning requirements such as NYC's parking requirement. We need to embrace the qualities that make this city a special place to live and repeal the parking requirements in our zoning code.

Not in the least. Clearly, you're leading candidates into agreement -- but congestion comes from outside of NYC from all points. Restricting and rezoning may make residents happier to not have to move their cars as often.. and there's some logic that they'd move them less, being happy with a 'good parking spot'... but really, there's relatively few areas that this affects (Browntone Brooklyn) and there's ample driveways, street parking across much of the 39th District, apart of Brownstone Brooklyn.

I do not believe that reducing parking requirements would affect neighborhoods in a positive way. I do not think it would reduce auto ownership and therefore it would increase the number of cars cruising through the neighborhoods searching for scarce spaces.

I’ve seen the report “Guaranteed Parking-Guaranteed Driving” and I understand and agree that that the parking requirements increase congestion because people are more likely to use their car if they know they will have a space to come home to. However, there are also reports that a high percentage of congestion in Park Slope, in particular, is created from people driving around and around the neighborhood looking for parking. I would like to study this issue in more detail and look forward to working with Transportation Alternatives to formulate an effective course of action.

I believe that reducing residential parking requirements in neighborhoods that are already well-served by mass transit can discourage unnecessary car ownership and driving. I believe that such a policy would also be most effective in areas well served by parking garages so that a reduction in parking at the site of a new development would not lead to an increase in cars circling the block for a space.

As a general matter I am not convinced that congestion would be eased by reducing the number of residential parking spaces required by NYC zoning regulations. But I would look forward to hearing more about this proposal.

It really depends on the individual, and on the neighborhood. In some instances, the availability of parking in a driveway leads people to drive more, since they have no fear of losing a parking space. As stated, in my case when I did not have a driveway I actually drove more often because of the fact that moving a car in accordance with parking rules was more difficult than driving and parking at work. In Park Slope, for example, residential parking is limited and traffic is fairly light. In Canarsie, most homes have driveways, and traffic is still fairly light, except for at two or three major bottlenecks, but roads in Canarsie are significantly wider and population is less dense than in Park Slope.
Eliminating cleaning regulations in areas where it is not needed would be extremely effective in reducing congestion caused by unnecessary driving.

Regulations that encourage smarter residential development and better site design are beneficial in a number of ways, including lowering neighborhood traffic congestion through discouraging automobile ownership.

Residential parking permits, a component of the defeated congestion pricing plan, would also have probably reduced congestion and cruising for spots.

I do not know whether or not reducing residential parking requirements in NYC zoning regulations would affect traffic congestion. The only way to determine the effect would be to commence a pilot program in a limited area and measure the results. Without such a study, I believe that it is just a guess as to whether or not there will be an effect.