We had been wondering when the city would be changing the alternate side parking regulations in Community Board 6 to reduce the restricted parking intervals from 3 hours to 90 minutes. Now we know. They will start putting up new signs next week, and as a result, alternate side of the street parking in the area shown on the map above will be entirely suspended starting May 19 “until further notice,” which could mean most of the summer. Repeat: No more alternate side of the street parking in Park Slope until they change the sign. (Similar suspensions will follow in CB6 in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook later in the year.) Here’s the DOT press release:

Effective Monday, May 19, 2008, Street Cleaning/Alternate Side Parking Regulations will be temporarily suspended in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 until further notice as the Department of Transportation (DOT) installs signs with new, reduced regulations. In many cases, residential street cleaning parking restrictions will be reduced from three-hour intervals to just 90 minutes, and from twice a week to just once a week, to ease parking for local residents. On commercial corridors, some streets will now be cleaned more often and regulations will be better coordinated to help ensure some curbside parking for local shoppers. The new rules were established by the Department of Sanitation.

North: Pacific St. (included) from 4th Ave. to 6th Ave.; 6th Ave. (not included) from Pacific St. to Flatbush Ave.; West side of Flatbush Ave. (included) from 6th Ave. to Plaza St. West.

East: Plaza Street West (included) from Flatbush Ave. to Union St.; Prospect Park West (included) from Union St. to Bartel Pritchard Square; Bartel Pritchard Square (included) from Prospect Park West to 15th St.

South: 15th St. (not included) from Prospect Park West to 4th Ave.

West: 4th Ave. (not included) from 15th St. to Saint Mark’s Pl.; 4th Ave. (included) from Saint Mark’s Pl. to Pacific St..

The new Street Cleaning Regulations will take effect once sign changes are complete in the entire area, also indicated on the map. The DOT will give advance notification before enforcement resumes.
The changes do not affect 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. parking rules or meter regulations, or any other parking rules that are not Street Cleaning Regulations. Similar conversions and temporary suspensions of ASP rules will occur later this year in Board 6’s Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook neighborhoods.

So, is the change a godsend for people with cars or does it mean the curbs will fill with craps for the summer? Will anyone care? The Brooklyn Paper calls the suspension “a kid’s summertime vision of the school burning down.”