To the editor:
In response and balance to yesterday’s article ( Lower Manhattan Lacks Curb Appeal BroadsheetDAILY November 15 ) on curbside parking in lower Manhattan, and particularly Battery Park City, your statement that “(parking) in Battery Park City, ….borders on the impossible” is balanced by the high percentage of BPC residential buildings that incorporate paid parking in the building.
Many BPC buildings have parking at a typical ratio of 0.4-0.5 spaces per apartment, compared to a typical zero spaces, and a maximum of 0.15 spaces per apartment in Financial District residential buildings.
As a result, counting both paid and curbside parking, BPC likely has more spaces per apartment than any other Manhattan neighborhood. Unlike older Manhattan neighborhoods, like the Upper West Side, where most of the parking is visible on the street, most of BPC’s parking is “hiding” in the buildings.
As a result, BPC also has among the highest per-capita auto ownership of any neighborhood in the borough.
Larry Gould