Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Illegal curb cuts cause nuisance

From the Brooklyn Paper:

Bay Ridge’s legendary parking problem is in the crosshairs of residents who say the city needs to punish the people who literally steal the few available spots.

Illegal driveways persist in the neighborhood’s residential areas and illegal valet parking infects its commercial strips, so residents are declaring that it’s time the city starts attacking those that cause the problem, and stop going after those that are victims of it.

To stop illegal curb cuts — where a homeowner adds a driveway to his house without a permit — the city needs to be able to fire back at the offending homeowner.

“The city should have a right to come in and repair it, then [make the homeowner pay] double the cost,” said Steve Harrison, the chair of Community Board 10’s zoning committee. “And if you put one in illegally, and it could have been legal, you then shouldn’t be allowed to put one in at all.”

Presently, the city can only fine the offender, but not force him to undo the damage. Worse, added Harrison, motorists who block the illegal driveways end up with tickets because police don’t know the curb cut shouldn’t be there. In that case, Harrison says the homeowner should be responsible for that ticket — and then some.

“I really believe the homeowner should pay that,” he said. “And maybe double.”

And illegally valet parked cars need to be ticketed as well.

Doris Cruz, the chairwoman of CB10’s transportation committee, thinks that business that use valet parking services are less likely to be ticketed for double-parking, and blocking driveways and fire hydrants than drivers who do the same thing.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

DOB will issue a summons,if not paid,the homeowner has lien put on his house...........

Anonymous said...

This is not a new problem. CBS' "Shame on you" featured a story about illegal curbs in B'klyn over 6 years ago. This problem is still with us.

Anonymous said...

Why not just park in front of the illegal driveway?

Anonymous said...

Why not just park in front of the illegal driveway?
------------------

Because some female silverback with a ticket printer will come along and see a good way to reach quota.

Anonymous said...

"Because some female silverback with a ticket printer will come along and see a good way to reach quota."

Brownies and cops don't ticket driveway blockers unless the owner complains. If the owner complains, and you're ticketed, sue the owner in small claims.

Anonymous said...

A friend owns a four family home in Ridgewood. He has a private driveway with a four car garage in the yard.

A resident on the block habitually parks in his driveway and places a PBA Detective card in his windshield even though he is not a cop.

My friend continually tells the guy to stop but the jerk gives him the finger and walks away.

When he calls the police to come ticket the guy they refuse when they see the PBA card.

Last week he had a neighborhood kid steal the guys car and dump it in the Bronx.

Anonymous said...

"A resident on the block habitually parks in his driveway and places a PBA Detective card in his windshield even though he is not a cop."

I'm a city employee with a POLICE parking pass, (I'm a civilian investigator) and I take public transportation to work. ONCE - I stuck the nose of my car in my psycho neighbor's driveway and she called 311 and I got a ticket. Repeat - no shitty PBA card - an offical placard that says "POLICE" - and I wasn't even blocking her driveway. Tell your friend to be persistant and to send a photo to the "uncivil servants" website and embarrass this guy into not blocking driveways. Meanwhile, block all illegal driveways!

Anonymous said...

sue the owner in small claims.

Yeah! Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

"sue the owner in small claims.
Yeah! Good luck with that."

The owner will be forced to appear or you'll get a default judgment. If they appear, they'll have to have proof that the curb cut is legal, which it's not. Either way you win the case. Then take the judgment and file it against their house - the one asset you know they have!

Deke DaSilva said...

There is no such thing as "illegal curb cuts", only undocumented curb cuts!

Since Americans are no longer willing to park their vehicles on the street, they've unfortunately had to start curb cutting.

Perhaps President Obama, in between rounds of golf, could propose legislation to make these millions of curb cuts legal?

It would benefit the Democratic party, because then they would have millions of "undocumented curb cutters" who would now vote Democrat.

No curb cut left behind!

Sí, se puede!

Anonymous said...

"Last week he had a neighborhood kid steal the guys car and dump it in the Bronx."
I hope you made that up. If not your mouth is 10 times bigger than your brain and you should learn to STFU.

Anonymous said...

Oh GOD!! How many of these residents are Caucasian? Pieces of white middle class trash!

Anonymous said...

Bay Ridge is overrun with Arabs these days, not Caucasians.

Anonymous said...

It's not Bay Ridge,it's Bayroot(sic)

Anonymous said...

Curb cuts: City should first tow the vehicle where there is a curb cut and keep the car until the curb is restored and collect a $2000 fine - period.

The suggestion below is terrific!
DOB will issue a summons,if not paid,the homeowner has lien put on his house...........

Anonymous said...

Your lard bottom needs to be motored to the turd hole! This would not happen if you listened to Mike and used a bike!

Anonymous said...

bayridge is still 70% white. Depends in which part of bayridge, but i would say it's still predominately white-middle working class.

Anonymous said...

50%of the 70%are white trash,especially below 75st.There are more drugs sold in bars and by cell delivery than in most ghetto neighborhoods..........

Anonymous said...

Interesting. What does that have to do with illegal curb cuts?