Thursday, May 3, 2018

Brooklyn CB is fighting back against illegal curb cuts


From Brooklyn Daily:

The mayor must step in to force city agencies to crack down on selfish Bensonhurst homeowners who take away already-scarce street parking spots by illegally cutting their curbs and paving their front lawns into driveways, according to the neighborhood’s district manager.

“The [Buildings] violations are all bark, no bite,” said Marnee Elias-Pavia.

Pavia sent Hizzoner Community Board 11’s recommendations for how agencies should punish offending homeowners in an April 18 letter after board members unanimously adopted the resolution to do so at its April 12 general meeting. In the letter, Pavia outlined the decades-old problem and its environmental impact — made worse by the fact that the Federal Emergency Management Agency classified some affected areas as particularly susceptible to flooding, which the proliferation of concrete and lack of grass promotes, she wrote.

“Our topography creates a bowl effect and prevents tidal and storm water absorption,” she wrote. “We must address the lack of absorption created by the removal of front yards in the northern portion of the district to increase absorption and resiliency.”

CB11 demands that the buildings agency make inspecting and even re-inspecting properties with alleged illegal curb cuts and driveways a higher priority — especially for flood zones — and to notify the community board when properties receive violations for illegal curb cuts or driveways. The letter also wants the city to improve inter-agency communication by having the Department of Buildings coordinate with agencies in charge of roads, parks and environmental concerns.

“There needs to be a sharing of information [among the agencies] — there’s an environmental impact, so the Department of Buildings should be sharing with the Parks Department,

Pavia also wrote that the city should increase and enforce fines for violations, push homeowners to use permeable pavements on legitimate driveways to help drain stormwater, and require homeowners to fix curb-cut violations before selling their properties — among other suggestions.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

They shold make this an Environmentall cotrol Board fine. You don’t pay and repair,the put a lien on your property.

Anonymous said...

What exactly is the enforcement and penalty? I know no one is going to jail for this, but is a lien put against the house? What ultimately can force an owner to put things back?

Anonymous said...

Bensonhurst once a strong Italian enclave has of late become overrun with Russians and they are swine. It's a wonder there are not more McMansions in the area.

Anonymous said...

“The [Buildings] violations are all bark, no bite,” said Marnee Elias-Pavia.

Can you see anyone in Queens talking like this - they would all be patiently waiting for Tony Avella to speak.

Cannot look like misbehaved children now.

We all know our places and mustn't make our minders look bad now.

If they look bad by definition WE look bad. After all, THEY are the ones playing the game, our role is simple to shout and cheer on cue.

And we wonder why our city and government are going to hell in a hand-basket.

Speaking of which, you should have all heard the stomach churning video making the rounds this morning around the borough of Jimmy Van Bramer and the Secret Theater and the community shouting cheers for Jimmy ... just steps away from the Elk Building's empty lot and the Annabel Basin mess.

Gives you a good idea as to why the civic groups fighting for community and good government initiatives around the city have a 'hands off' approach to Queens saying 'leave sleeping dogs lie.'

Tony Notaro said...

That's a big Chinese and Muslim thing...then the bastards still park on the street. Third world neighborhood, third world parking.

Anonymous said...

About time.

TommyR said...

Good on them.

Law and Disorder said...

OK so it is only in Bensonhurst that it is a problem. Go to Bushwick Ave there it has ben going on for years or Bed Sty and to a lesser extent Greenpoint and Williamsburg All over east ny and all over Queens. Come on get a grip.

Anonymous said...

QNS feels similar pain as we watched and documented a kept garden with some very nice topiaries get hacked up and the entire yard covered in three cement trucks full of gray mud. Now, the sidewalk floods and turns green with algae from the rain and the mosquitoes pop up three days later. All while charging 200+ a month to park three cars that cannot maneuver out of the gate and we have to listen to horn honking and screaming at the landlord for their cars being blocked in. DOB still has an outstanding driveway cut investigation while the cement trucks came, did DOB investigate? Nope, they cannot even find this address let alone other locations.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=2&vlcompdetlkey=0001866808
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=2&vlcompdetlkey=0002205074

Anonymous said...

YEAH OK, THIS IS QUEENS. DO EHAT YOU WANT. I UNDERSTAND THIS IS BROOKLYN. SAME THING HAPPENING HERE.

Joe Moretti said...

BIG YAWN. This shit has been going on for years and this shitty city and their even shittier agencies DO SHIT about this and other quality of life issues. After awhile, you just don't give a shit anymore and just start biding your time till you get the fuck out of here. When I lived in that shit cesspool Jamaica, I spent an hour with DOB, giving them 30 addresses within a three block radius that not only had illegal drive ways and curb cuts put in years ago, but had already had complaints filed on these properties back in 2005, when it all started. After several months when lazy and corrupt DOB finally got around to it, they issued just one violation and when I left, nothing changed with that property or any of the others, in fact more were created.

Like I said a BIG YAWN and WHO GIVES A FUCK ANYMORE because nothing changes in this shit hole city and the powers that be do nothing.

Anonymous said...

@ Joe Moretti said...
Just wondering where would you move to ?

Anonymous said...

"They shold make this an Environmentall cotrol Board fine"

DOB violations do end up at ECB.

Anonymous said...

Bensonhurst has more Asians than Russians. I used to think they were nice people.....