Dear Editor
‘Going Continental’ by Christie Grotheim (WestView News July 2012).
Villager Grotheim writes enthusiastically about the joys she and her husband Niklas Andersson expect to have on a cross-country trip in the 20 foot-long 1979 gold Lincoln Continental Town Car they bought on eBay. I ask, where will they park such a behemoth when they return? In September the rates for parking at Pier 40 will take a huge hike – an indoor spot will go from $326 to $368. Initially the idea for the pier parking was to decrease congestion on the streets of Greenwich Village and give the beleaguered middle class a much needed break.
Last year the Port Authority, with the underhanded complicity of doublespeak New York and New Jersey governors, passed some of the enormous $16 billion cost of rebuilding the World Trade Center onto the average Joe by hiking the fares at all PA tunnels and bridges. A single auto is now $12. This year, it is the Hudson River Park Trust (its headquarters are at Pier 40) who probably said, “Oh, well, we’ll pass cost on to those suckers who park here under caustically leaking roofs, bring them into line with the luxury garages on Sheridan Square.” Can’t they find a better way to get out of their budget problems? Or, is it that they are saying “you people shouldn’t have cars at all – play soccer instead?” The rate hikes assault will discourage people from parking there and actually reduce the $5 million annual income earned from the cars. Have they thought this out or is this HRPT’s way of letting us know they have other development plans for the pier that don’t include parking? Meanwhile I hope to hear more about the adventures of Christie Grotheim and Niklas Andersson and that gold Continental.
John Gilman
