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Alternate Side Parking to be Suspended in Parts of Washington Heights

By Nigel Chiwaya | March 7, 2013 1:46pm
 Alternate side parking rules will be suspended in Washignton Heights below 181st Street starting Mar. 18.
Alternate side parking rules will be suspended in Washignton Heights below 181st Street starting Mar. 18.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Alternate side parking regulations will be temporarily suspended across much of Washington Heights beginning later this month, the Department of Sanitation announced today.

Parking rules will be suspended between West 155th and West 181st streets from Riverside Drive to the Harlem River Drive beginning March 18.

The suspension comes as the department prepares to institute new street cleaning rules in Washington Heights and Inwood.

Community Board 12 passed a resolution in 2011 asking the department to decrease the number of street cleaning days in the district from four to two, citing the district's high street cleanliness rating.

Although the plan was approved by the board, some residents and community leaders said they found the new plan frustrating and counterintuitive for a community that has struggled with the highest reported rates of rats in the borough.

The rules, which require drivers to move their cars to allow street cleaning, will be shelved while the Department of Transportation posts new street cleaning signs. Advanced warning will be given before the new rules go into effect.

The suspension does not include meters or any parking rules that do not involve street cleaning.

Once all of the signs are changed in the lower half of the district, the same change and suspension will take place north of West 181st Street, although no timeframe has been given for when residents can expect the change to begin.