Nadine Brozan’s article in the Times points out that (surprise!) parking lots are a woeful under-use of space in New York:

A Manhattan commercial real estate broker makes the aesthetic case for ripping up parking lots:

In [the view of Anne De Marzo, a broker who specializes in transactions involving developers and the parking industry], the disappearance of lots is aesthetically beneficial. “We won’t have unsightly garages and lots on desolate streets anymore,” she said. “Instead, there will be beautiful buildings with garages.” She did concede that such beauty has its price: higher fees for drivers.

An executive at a billion-dollar real estate investment trust goes further, saying that (gasp) supply and demand also apply to parking:

Fred Harris, senior vice president of AvalonBay Communities, whose Avalon Chrystie Place will have 713 apartments and fewer than 200 underground parking spots, agreed. “There is some academic research showing that parking capacity encourages traffic,” he said. “And a lack of capacity, while it may be an annoyance, lowers traffic. Parking may be great, but in the city people can live without it.”

The article also says does say that the High Line “is to be revived as an elevated promenade” (emphasis mine). I wonder if Bucktown millionaires would be more amenable to a Bloomingdale Promenade than a simple Trail.