Thursday, April 7, 2011

More cars blocking sidewalks

From Douglaston Patch:

Community Board 11 members are complaining that auto dealers along Northern Boulevard have been parking their merchandise along sidewalks in Bayside.

Board member Henry Euler said he has noticed vehicles parked along the sidewalk near the Clearview Expressway service road, forcing pedestrians to step into the road.

“People have to walk out into the street on the Clearview,” he said during CB 11’s monthly board meeting last night. “It’s dangerous and it’s got to stop.”

Bill Conway, of the 111th Precinct’s community affairs department, said police officers cannot ticket the auto dealers unless the vehicles on the sidewalks have license plates.

“We cannot write summonses to vehicles without license plates,” he said. “We can operate an aggressive towing operation, but we can’t do it on the fly.”

Conway said the precinct is keeping its eye on the auto dealers and that a future towing operation is a possibility.

10 comments:

georgetheatheist said...

What just does one need to indeed "do it on the fly"?

Anonymous said...

If someone parks their unlicensed & unregistered car on a city sidewalk, wouldn't it seem reasonable that the city could tow and impound that vehicle-where's the councilperson on this issue. How about using the vin number for a citation in this case?
Some legislation please!

Anonymous said...

So, basically if the cars were junked you know it would be towed, but since its the dealerships, who more than likely contributes some $$ to the local PBA they aren't willing to touch it.
But honestly, this is not a new occurrance. Its been going on since I moved to the neighborrhood, 25 years ago

Anonymous said...

Giuliani's BFF Kopell and his heirs have been parking their cars on the sidewalks on Northern Blvd and 44 Street/35 Avenue for ages.

Anonymous said...

To 'Anonymous':

The PBA is supported by member dues, period. The PBA is not allowed to accept donations from priavte oragnizations. Learn the facts before you post falsehoods.

To the other 'Anonymous':

Police officers have been ordered to not write summonses to VINs, as the NYC Department of Finance has decided it will not process summonses written to vehicle VINs, for efficiency purposes. This is not the Police Department's call. Summonses written to VINs can be literally torn up by the person receiving them, as they know the portion of the summons which gets forwarded to Dept. of Finance will also be torn up.

To georgetheatheist:

Towing Operations require that an appointment be made several days in advance with the Police Department's Tow Truck Unit. At the Precinct level, it is impossible to conduct aggressive towing operations impromptu.

Anonymous said...

in the L.I.C.precinct,how many vehicles have been ticketed or towed from the auto repair shops, on 23 street and 40th avenue,that park on the sidewalks,double park,and use the public street to house their customers cars ? this occurs every weekday and saturdays.

this route is heavily traveled by motorists leaving Manhattan,daily. it is a dangerous obstacle course to drive.

btw ,some of these repair shops are doing shoddy work and ripping the public off,while illegally using public sidewalks and streets ,to operate their "business".

Anonymous said...

At the Precinct level, it is impossible to conduct aggressive towing operations impromptu.

Impossible? Somehow I doubt that.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Giuliani's BFF Kopell

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/fashion/weddings/03KOEPPEL.html

AH Rudy, we hardly knew ya!

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous aka the policeman
Re: "Towing Operations require that an appointment be made several days in advance with the Police Department's Tow Truck Unit. At the Precinct level, it is impossible to conduct aggressive towing operations impromptu."

So if this is a daily occurrance, it wouldn't be difficult to "make an appointment" for any day of the week the precinct would mandate.
Therefore, it wouldn't be "impromptu"
Then again, whoever in the precinct who is getting their payoffs could very well let Koepell know when its gonna happen and get all these cars off the street prior to trucks coming to tow it away.

Jim said...

“We cannot write summonses to vehicles without license plates,"???

Therefore, I can take my plates off of my car and drive or park on the sidewalks without consequence?

The business community has wedged there way between us and our government by political contributions. Follow the money.