From DNA Info:
Banged up cars awaiting body work and other repairs are littering a stretch of streets of Hunters Point — and fed up residents of the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood are looking to put the brakes on the longtime practice.
Auto body shops on 44th Avenue, between 11th and 21st streets, in Hunters Point have long parked unregistered cars in need of work illegally, blocking coveted parking spots and blighting the street, according to locals.
The area has been undergoing change recently, including an influx of new hotels such as the Wyndham Garden that opened two blocks away in April, and Z NYC, which opened in July 2011. Many companies and art studios have recently moved into the neighborhood’s old warehouses as well.
Dominick, a resident who lives on 11th Street and who didn’t want to give his last name, said the problem has persisted for years and that auto body shop owners “completely took over the street.”
A police source confirmed that “there is illegal parking going on.” It is illegal to park a car without a plate and registration on the street.
But the practice puts cops in a bind because they cannot issue a summons if there is no plate, cops said.
7 comments:
This is a long term problem unlike hipsters who move to a train yard and get their beauty rest disturbed by ... a well train yard.
THAT gets headlines and media attention.
But since putting salve on hipsters crankiness helps promote development (and therefor political careers) you can be certain that Jimmy No Brainer doesn't give a shit about this issue.
What kind of news is this? This is considered the "norm" for auto shops and used/new car dealers, in Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan (125+ St), and Brooklyn that do not have enough space to house all their vehicles and law enforcement is lax. Even if the vehicles have plates, the police just turn a blind eye to it, as if it's OK to take in more business than your tiny garage can hold.
Don't you worry Dominick, by this time next year, both you AND the auto shop will be pushed far out of Long Island City. Your home and the building that houses the auto shop will be replaced by an ugly, high rise yuppie tower, built under the guise of "affordable housing".
The auto repair shops (not to mention tractor trailers) along Atlantic Avenue in Richmond Hill, Ozone Park and Woodhaven have been doing this for years.
Here's an idea: if the cops can't issue a ticket to a vehicle that doesn't have a license plate, how about booting these cars and trucks? When the bootee complains, you can then give them multiple summonses. This would bring in lots of added revenue for the city and - perhaps - put a small dent in the problem.
Those shops the employ 100s have been there forever.
It these new people that need to shut the F_ up or move !
Joe: they do NOT employ "100s" - at most it's 5 per shop, in my neighborhood. The parking on sidewalks is a tough nut to crack, but when I started framing it as a serious safety hazard (blocked sidewalk means wheelchair users, kids, and others become potential road-kill) we were able to get action. The problem is things are good for a month, then they slide back into their old ways and we have to take it from the top...
An unregistered auto with no plates is deemed derelict/ abandoned if it is parked on the street for more than 6 hours.......
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