Delivery trucks already just drive on the sidewalks, and illegally parked cars/trucks already impede fire trucks and ambulances.

None of those parking spaces are ever open to delivery trucks, they're occupied 24/7. Eliminating street parking would just get rid of a row of parked cars.

It's actually very crazy. I've witnessed delivery trucks double park and instantly get parking tickets. I think (and the article seems to confirm it) they just look at the ticket as a price of doing business in NY, and pass it along to their customers.

The city actually could really enforce this by towing these trucks, which would put a stop to this practice, but they are probably addicted to the ticketing revenue and don't want to put a stop to their "free money."

Then there is the problem of how would the restaurants and stores get their inventory if the delivery trucks are effectively banned from parking?

It seems like there might be a great technological solution that involves rooftop deliveries by drone, but that is probably some years out, and likely to be stifled by paranoid regulators that don't like the idea of UAVs flying so close to skyscrapers, especially in an area that is constantly under the threat of terrorist attack.

>paranoid regulators

Like the paranoid regulators who banned helicopters after one fell off the top of the Pan Am building. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/helicopter-flips-park-av...

What could go wrong with a dense network of flying objects carrying heavy deliveries over densely trafficked thoroughfares?

In Medina, SA, there is a law that every hotel must have a helipad.

A helipad would be sorely needed on Trump Towers for President-elect. I wonder if they would change the law for him.

This is from 1977. An accident caused by a structurally unsound helipad almost 40 years ago should be a reason why we never allow drones to deliver packages in the city?

> “It appeared it was a structural fault that had nothing to do with the flight,” he said.

"In pedestrian areas of Barcelona, trucks are allowed with permits and at certain hours for loading/off-loading. This works just fine."

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/05/20/will-barcelonas-superb...

He's not suggesting eliminating car lanes, just street parking. And if the next claim is "well what happens when someone parks in the street", this is already an issue with double-parking.

And why specifically "Mom and Pop" stores?

Where do vehicles that makes deliveries stop? How to the delis and restaurant that serve the day population down there get their supplies?

The area is filled with Mom and Pop shops and these are typically hit the hardest.

Look at european cities with pedestrian-only streets: They allow delivery vehicles on those, too.

That’s a solution that could work there as well. Only allow buses and delivery vehicles and emergency vehicles on the street.

But those need to parking spaces to they can unload and make deliveries. Manhattan is unlike any European city, it is an 8 x 2 mile island laid out in a grid.

Why dedicated parking spaces?

Just make one wide road, of one type, and allow pedestrians to walk anywhere, and delivery vehicles to park anywhere on it.

We do the same here, it works well.

The design is called "Shared Street" and has been difficult to get the community to accept in NYC. I know because we tried. Something about cars going about freely on pedestrian filled roads scares a lot of people.

Well, then create one single lane for cars/taxi/etc through the shared street, limit it to delivery vehicles and busses, and allow parking on the rest.

Pedestrians know they won’t get hurt on the rest, and you don’t lose space.