Op-Ed: Car Rental Companies Shouldn’t Take Over Public Parking for Profit
In Crown Heights, street parking is a precious commodity. Local residents and small business owners, particularly along Kingston Avenue, rely on these spaces for daily use, whether it’s for their personal vehicles or customer access. So, when car rental companies use public street parking for their fleets, it raises eyebrows and frustrations • Read More
We’ve heard from frustrated residents along Montgomery, President, and Union Streets who are fed up with the situation. They now have to think twice before running an errand, knowing they might come back and be stuck circling for parking for an extended period of time—sometimes for up to 45 minutes, even being forced to double park or park at a pump, risking a ticket. Others end up parking on streets farther away, which can be dangerous late at night, or on meter-lined blocks where they have to rearrange their schedules just to avoid getting a ticket.
Living expenses in the area aren’t cheap. Baruch Hashem, many families are blessed with large families and school tuitions, on top of basic necessities. Getting several tickets due to the lack of parking only adds to the financial burden, hurting residents’ pockets.
As it is, the area already faces the challenge of alternate side parking twice a week per side, making the search for a spot even more difficult. Moreover, President Street residents are no strangers to street closures for Kaparos, Moshe Rubashkin’s half-block Sukkah, Chanukah and Yud Alef Nissan tank parades, camp bus pick up and drop off, and a few organizations with their own Mitzvah tanks that park on the street all day and year-round which often leaves residents scrambling for parking. With one car rental company operating a fleet of over 50 cars, and another company with nearly double that, occupying public spaces, the situation has become even more untenable.
Small business owners along Kingston Avenue are also feeling the impact, as fewer parking spots mean less customer access, which could hurt their livelihoods. It’s simply not fair for car rental companies to treat public streets as their personal parking lots, especially when they’re profiting from these vehicles. If a rental company wants to operate a business, they should invest in a private lot instead of taking away spots that the Crown Heights community and local businesses rely on.
Public spaces should serve the public, not be monopolized by businesses looking to cut costs at the expense of local residents and small businesses. It’s time for a fair solution: car rental companies need to respect the community and invest in proper facilities for their operations.
We are calling on the new Vaad Hakol and community activists to step up and address this issue. Let’s work together to ensure that the streets of Crown Heights serve the people who live, work, and shop here—not just businesses seeking profit at the expense of the community.
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It is not as simple as it being a case of some selfish private business vs. crown heights residents.
These companies primarily serve local crown heights residents. Much of their customer base is people who cannot afford to buy or lease cars and rent occasionally when they must. Driving up the rental companies’ costs by pushing them off the streets would drive up the costs for local residents who need to rent from them, who usually cant afford to lease or buy which is why they need to rent.
The people who rent occasionally are no more able to afford an increase in the cost of their rentals than the people who do own or lease cars can afford risking parking tickets.
This is not to say that the companies should use the spaces on the streets, that is a reasonable topic for debate, but it is to say that the view presented in this article is a little narrow in its perspective and grossly oversimplified.
712 Crown Street (corner Schenectady) has a lot of abandoned vehicles parked in front on the city street in front of building, since before Covid. If those derelict vehicles get towed, then there will be 4 more permanent parking spots for the entire community & area residents to use.
If it gets towed…
Just as residents have the right to park on the street, so should certain car rental companies, especially since only a few residents are actually renting those cars. In reality, the same people who are upset with the companies for parking are often the neighbors who rely on those vehicles themselves.