The mayor is apparently considering eliminating free parking in NYC

One of the last truly free things in New York City might not stay that way for long.

As City Hall searches for ways to plug a looming budget hole, officials in mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration have begun openly discussing a once-taboo idea: charging drivers for many of the city’s currently free curbside parking spaces.

The idea came up during a March 5 CityLaw breakfast at New York Law School, when first deputy mayor Dean Fuleihan was asked whether metering currently free curbside parking or using demand-based “dynamic pricing” could help raise revenue for the city

“Yes, we should be looking at all those things,” Fuleihan said, according to Streetsblog. But he quickly added a dose of realism: “But it’s not going to address the $5.4 billion problem.”

Still, the fact that City Hall is even entertaining the idea has already stirred debate across the five boroughs.

Right now, New York City has more than 3 million curbside parking spaces, but only a small share of them require payment. Roughly 80,000 spaces (around 2.5 percent) are currently metered, leaving the majority free for drivers willing to circle the block long enough to find one.

A recent report from the Center for an Urban Future suggests that expanding paid parking could become a surprisingly large revenue stream. Metering more curbside spaces could generate up to $1.3 billion annually, the group estimates. The proposal would likely involve installing more parking meters across commercial corridors and potentially experimenting with dynamic pricing that changes based on demand, similar to how some cities adjust parking rates during peak hours.

Supporters say charging for curb space could do more than raise money. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal argued that pricing parking might actually make life easier for drivers.

“Over a billion dollars worth of revenue that could be generated,” Hoylman-Sigal told NBC New York. “But this isn’t about nickel and diming Manhattanites, but giving them a consistent place to park their cars.”

Not everyone is convinced. Critics argue that expanding paid parking would hit outer-borough neighborhoods hardest, where many residents rely on cars because transit options are limited.

“Like the Mayor’s proposal to hike our property taxes, this is just another way to shakedown outerborough working and middle class households,” Staten Island Councilmember David Carr told the New York Post. Queens Councilmember Joann Ariola echoed the concern, calling the idea “another tax on the middle and working classes.”

For now, the idea remains just that—an idea. Even the mayor himself has signaled that parking meters won’t solve the city’s fiscal problems on their own.

“Our administration is committed to filling the budget gap by ending the drain on New York City and taxing the rich,” Mamdani said in a statement. “You do not fill a $5.4 billion budget gap through parking meters.”

Still, with a budget deadline approaching in June and City Hall looking under every couch cushion for revenue, one thing is clear: in New York, even free parking might not be sacred anymore.

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