Mamaroneck Avenue’s parking crunch is a challenge for residents and business owners. It deserves serious deliberation.

But Republican candidates for the Mamaroneck Board of Trustees are rushing to support a proposal that isn’t a solution — it’s a hoax.

The Republican proposal is supposedly based on a secret report from a committee that meets behind closed doors.

Mayor Rosenblum proposes building an automated parking garage off Mamaroneck Avenue, and the Republican candidates parrot his talking points. But they haven’t done the arithmetic.

No private partner is going to invest in a garage where vastly overcharging for parking is the only way to cover costs — which makes this whole “solution” a non-starter.

Luckily, there are other, much more cost-effective options available for immediate implementation, such as:

• extending the hours of meter parking past 6pm
• posting better signs directing drivers to parking areas off Mamaroneck Avenue
• enforcing existing rules so that store employees use permit spaces rather than meter spaces
• installing multi-space meters to gain valuable information for future decisions - and generate additional revenue

But those suggestions — and others — have been ignored by the Board.

Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Ad Hoc Committee on Parking, Parking Facilities and Programs has met in private, without issuing any report to the Board or minutes of their proceedings to the public. And Mayor Rosenblum says that he will direct the Village Administration to seek proposals from developers before any report from his committee is released, let alone thoroughly analyzed to confirm that its recommendations are even remotely feasible.

This is not how the Village of Mamaroneck should be conducting business. 

Ilissa Miller, Leon Potok, and Andres Bermudez Hallstrom are committed to a more open, inclusive, respectful Village government, where information is shared with the public and decisions are made based on data and analysis.

Here are the facts:

• Meters on Mamaroneck Avenue generate $850 per space in annual revenue at the current rate of $0.75 per hour.
• The cost of building and operating an automated garage would require a private developer to generate at least $3,600 per space in annual revenue — mandating a rate of over $3.00 per hour.
• And that’s only if the automated garage is as busy as metered spots on Mamaroneck Avenue. A better estimate, based on analysis of actual parking habits, would require a rate of at least $5.00 to $7.00 per hour.

This is a plan that’s not realistic and would never attract investors. Mamaroneck residents deserve solutions based on more than wishful thinking.

Read the Sound & Town Report’s coverage of October’s Board of Trustees meeting where Mayor Rosenblum reported on the work of his ad hoc committee and its supposed recommendations.