Now the Mayor wants to grade the cleanliness of city streets. First restaurants, now this. Council Member Brad Lander, who’s district includes Park Slope, Boro Park, Kensington, Gowanus and Carroll Gardens thinks it a good thing. He was  pleased that Speaker Quinn announced today (in her State of the City address) that she intends to move forward on a bill he introduced last year:  Intro 287 which would require the Department of Sanitation to reduce alternate side parking to once a week per side in Community Board subdivisions that achieve cleanliness ratings of 90% or above on Mayor’s Office of Operation’s “Scorecard.”

Good street score = Less alternate side of the street parking. Okay. Here from Lander himself:

Author Calvin Trillin once joked that “You can park your car on the streets of New York, or you can have a full-time job — but you can’t possibly do both.”  Unfortunately, for too many New Yorkers, this is all too close to reality.  By allowing communities to reduce alternate side parking to one day per week, this legislation can minimize the sense of dread that that all drivers feel on a day when alternate side parking is in effect. It will also reduce unnecessary car trips, thereby decreasing air pollution, since in many neighborhoods a good portion of the daily traffic consists of people looking for parking.

This proposed legislation builds on the success and leadership of my own community board, CB6 in Brooklyn, whose district manager Craig Hammerman has helped to lead the way on this issue.  And I look forward to working with Councilmember Sara Gonzalez and CB7 in Brooklyn — who have been keeping their streets clean and patiently requesting the same treatment for years — and other Councilmembers and Community Boards around the city.

I am proud to be a supporter of a more livable and sustainable city for users of all modes of transportation.  This legislation is an important part of broader efforts to make our streets and our city work better not only for drivers, but also straphangers, cyclists, and pedestrians.