From The Forum:Anthony Shillitani says he just can’t take it anymore. The street he lives on, 109th Street between Rockaway Boulevard and 109th Avenue, is a nightmare of congestion and illegal parking. He can’t come home to his own driveway because invariably someone blocking it—without fail he says it’s someone, most likely a parent, from the Vincent Fowler School down the street.
Anthony Shillitani in front of his driveway where the vehicle of a parent completely blocks his driveway.
Shillitani is not alone in his dilemma. Residents in communities in every neighborhood who live near public schools continued to be plagued with the problems brought on by excessive traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular, as well as busses that the school population brings with it.
It is more than three years since he says he first went to the office of Senator Joe Addabbo for help. Following the visit with the senator, he received a note in March of 2009 signed off on by Addabbo and announcing that the street, 109th between Rockaway and 109th Avenue would be subject to closure twice a day for roughly an hour to alleviate the problems fueling Shillitani’s complaints. The letter promised that the only ones who would have access to the street during the time periods specified would be school busses and residents. The letter also said that the senator had contacted all necessary parties in the matter including the school’s principal, the 106th Precinct and the DOT. It said the changes would take place sometime in April of 2009.
Double parked busses blocked from their spots at the curb make passage for vehicles impossible.
And Shillitani says that all the promises in the letter started out “like a house on fire.” Traffic agents made their way to the street issuing summonses for double parked cars and blocking his private driveway. “I was really hopeful that the abuse was at an end.”
Within a week, however, all signs of closing the street had vanished. The principal, Ms. Biondollilo pulled her personnel in off the street leaving no one to man the posts, forcing the street to remain open.
Since then, just over four years ago, the street has remained open and his pleas for help, whether to the school’s principal or to the senator’s office have been left unanswered.
20 comments:
Just start shooting their tires. That'll teach 'em.
Break off or bend their windshield wipers where they cannot function and make sure to place a note that says "You are not welcome in this community". I found this very useful in dealing with the auto body shops that place their cars on the streets and the shops who sell cars with the F/S writing all over the windows (which by the way is illegal) and usually do not have license plates or inspections stickers. Believe me it works wonders and we do not have that problem in our blocks near us. It sends a nice clear message and believe me they will not do it again. But you must make sure you bend or break it off where all the moving parts are because that is much more expensive to fix.
"Residents in communities in every neighborhood who live near public schools continued to be plagued with the problems brought on by excessive traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular, as well as busses that the school population brings with it."
excessive pedestrian traffic??? LOL
What exactly is so funny about that? Have you ever been around a school at dismissal?
Joe Moretti: vigilante?
Is this what it has come down to folks? In Queens 2013? The dissolution of society in such a manner that the denizens must now take the law into their own hands? Think about it. Really think about it. Governmental representatives, one right after the other, being arrested and hauled off to prison. Who is in charge here? Queens 2013. Now the citizenry has to resort to vigilantism to maintain a semblance of law and order.
Cf Ayn Rand's essay exerpt "The Nature of Government", p.108 The Virtue of Selfishness:
"The use of physical force—even its retaliatory use—cannot be left at the discretion of individual citizens. Peaceful coexistence is impossible if a man has to live under the constant threat of force to be unleashed against him by any of his neighbors at any moment. Whether his neighbors’ intentions are good or bad, whether their judgment is rational or irrational, whether they are motivated by a sense of justice or by ignorance or by prejudice or by malice—the use of force against one man cannot be left to the arbitrary decision of another.
Visualize, for example, what would happen if a man missed his wallet, concluded that he had been robbed, broke into every house in the neighborhood to search it, and shot the first man who gave him a dirty look, taking the look to be a proof of guilt.
The retaliatory use of force requires objective rules of evidence to establish that a crime has been committed and to prove who committed it, as well as objective rules to define punishments and enforcement procedures. Men who attempt to prosecute crimes, without such rules, are a lynch mob. If a society left the retaliatory use of force in the hands of individual citizens, it would degenerate into mob rule, lynch law and an endless series of bloody private feuds or vendettas.
If physical force is to be barred from social relationships, men need an institution charged with the task of protecting their rights under an objective code of rules.
This is the task of a government—of a proper government—its basic task, its only moral justification.
A government is the means of placing the retaliatory use of physical force under objective control-i.e. under objectively defined laws."
Joe Moretti may be pissed-off to High Heaven but is he not breaking the law by destroying property? The warning signage, yes. But snapping the wipers?
Vigilante
Queens 2013
"God" help us all?
Woe to the man who gets on your bad side, Moretti.
The problem is the body of voters - Queens, NYC, the country, that over and over again, elects the same d*ckheads that run this system.
Until that changes, nothing will change.
To paraphrase Pogo, we have seen the enemy and he is us.
"This is the task of a government—of a proper government"
GTA - you'd be right if we had a proper government. But what do you do when government fails to do what they obligated to do ?
Yes, this is Queens 2013. It's effectively dysfunctional. And it's only going to get worse if illegal aliens get the vote.
Let's be clear, my actions were only toward the auto body shop cars, who take up many of the spots in our community, by placing their illegally parked cars without license plates/no or out of date registration stickers or their cars they are attempting to sell with the writing all over the windows (which is illegal in NYC, it must be a For Sale Sign. This issue has been a big problem in Jamaica as well as other parts of Queens and was reported on the news. Yes, if the city and elected leaders would do their job as they should, then this would not be an issue.
That's my point. Queens government has failed. Now vigilantism is "in the air".
Are your reading this, Powers That Be?
If Joe Moretti can see these transgressions why can't the cops?
Where is the Law? Where is the Order?
Is this what it has come down to folks? In Queens 2013? The dissolution of society in such a manner that the denizens must now take the law into their own hands? Think about it. Really think about it. Governmental representatives, one right after the other, being arrested and hauled off to prison. Who is in charge here? Queens 2013. Now the citizenry has to resort to vigilantism to maintain a semblance of law and order.
---------------------------------
Ummm, yeah, ok. Right or wrong, that is usually what happens when the people we elect into office to look out for the well- being of society completely shrug off their responsibilities.
Joe Moretti is a dope. You don't mess with someones car when it is parked in front of your house, because SOMEHOW they might just be able to figure out where you live and fuck with your house and car in return.
Maybe he is one of these dopes that fights with someone over a parking spot, wins the spot, then is outraged to find his car vandalized when he returns.
Geez..It's one thing to crowd someone's driveway cut..But to simply park across it and walk away.
The audacity of some people is incredible.
Anyone know if the Driveway Tow Program is still active?
To the asshole that called me a dope, LEARN TO READ. These are not cars that are owned by residents in the community. These are cars that are parked illegally by these auto shop places that fix them and then sell them while parked illegally on the streets taking up parking spaces for the residents that live in the community. Read that damn report that actually appeared on this very page: http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2011/04/sanitation-cleans-up-cars-after-news.html
Damn, some of you make a comment without knowing the whole damn story. Bottom line a car parked illegally is a car parked illegally. This is not the Upper East Side, where action by officials happen immediately.
"Break off or bend their windshield wipers where they cannot function and make sure to place a note that says "You are not welcome in this community".
"But you must make sure you bend or break it off where all the moving parts are because that is much more expensive to fix."
If this was not a suggested action to take against the offenders in this story, then you should LEARN TO WRITE effectively.
And if you think you are teaching anyone a lesson by damaging any of the wrecks shown in your link, you are more of a dope than I thought.
It WAS a suggestion to the guy whose driveway was blocked by some asshole.
My point was (in response to the one individual) that the cars that I did this to do not belong to residents in the community but the auto shop places that park their cars on the street. This has nothing to do with people who park in front of your house, UNLESS they are blocking your driveway. And no the cars from the auto shop places that I did this to were in completely good condition that were for sale, not the wrecks. The report was to show that some of the auto shops are using street parking to place their cars that should be on their property and not using public parking for storage. So are we clear. It is not brain surgery. And yes someone who blocks your driveway so you cannot get into your space deserves that, bottom line.
By the way, the one the person that said "You don't mess with someones car when it is parked in front of your house". But someone can mess with you and block your driveway so you cannot enter or exit your place and by the time the authorities arrive and who knows when that will be, much time has passed. Moral of the story, this conversation or this post would not be happening if 1)People just used common sense and not park illegally and 2) if authorities would do their jobs properly and immediately.
I take it back Joe, you're not a dope. But vandalizing someones property when that person can figure out where you live is still a very bad idea.
And as far as your vigilante justice for selected law breakers that irritate you, it's still a poor idea. I'm sure if someone decided to break your car window because they saw you going a bit over the speed limit or not signalling a lane change, your stance on the situation would be different even though the premise is basically the same.
Sorry, you shouldn't get to decide which law breakers are deserving of vandalism as a punishment.
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