Commissioner O'Neill orders NYPD to tow thirty cars while brazenly violating new placard rules for silly private football game

NY Daily News

Angry upper Manhattan residents accused the NYPD of unsportsmanlike conduct for towing their cars to free up parking for the department’s flag football championship.

The alleged offensive interference with the local motor vehicles came in the hours before Sunday’s NYPD flag football championship contest at Columbia University’s Baker Field.

Police, citing traffic concerns and accessibility for the disabled, towed 30 cars on W. 218th St. between Broadway and Indian Road prior to the law enforcement Super Bowl pitting the 40th Precinct against Midtown South.

But one Inwood resident said most of the newly-created spaces on the west side of Broadway were instead filled by cops going to the game.

“There were mostly civilian cars with placards on their dashboards or notes about the flag football game,” said local man David Thom, 44. “This was removal of cars for personal vehicle parking for officers.”

While the cars were relocated rather than ticketed or taken to a tow pound, it still outraged some locals who emerged to find the police had called an audible on their parking spaces.

“How can they do that?” said Anna Dominguez, 52, who lives in the area but was not towed. “You think you’re gonna leave your car here Sunday and everything is gonna be fine — and then you come back and it’s gone. Just because the NYPD wanted space for a game? They’re taking advantage of their power.”

 Some cops left the notes in the cars to explain why they were illegally parked in crosswalks, in front of hydrants or in no parking zones.

Mayor de Blasio recently vowed a crackdown on placard abuse. But NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said Tuesday there was no abuse in this case.

“This was a special event,” O’Neill said. “This was the flag football championship. The cars were relocated. Nobody was towed and nobody got a ticket.”

O’Neill did suggest the 34th Precinct could have done a better job getting word out about the towing.

“But there are special events all throughout the city, every day,” O’Neill added.

What a dick. Although he does reveal that the city permits too much privatization of the streets.

Look how many people showed up for this "championship game"



So this is strike one according to the Mayor's new placard violation laws. Right?

Football games cause parking chaos

From DNA Info:

Residents of a Ridgewood block say their safety is being jeopardized by drivers who double park along their street, blocking driveways and access to a fire hydrant.

The dead end block on 65th Place at 68th Avenue becomes a virtual parking lot several times a week, when kids from a youth football league play at Mafera Park, locals say.

According to the 311 online map, residents of the block have placed more than a dozen calls regarding the situation in the past two months, including complaints about blocked sidewalks and a hydrant and double parking.

In two cases, the police took action, but it was not clear what was done. In one instance, the people responsible were gone and in another no action was necessary. The results in other cases were not clear.

He bleeds Big Blue

They was robbed!

From the Forum:

In the eyes of the John Adams High School Spartans football players, their record is 8-2. According to the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL), their record is 5- 5.

The Spartans were forced to forfeit their first four games because of an ineligible player. Junior Antoine Arnold transferred from Bayside High School and played football there during the 2009 season. The PSAL rules state that Arnold must sit out 12 months before being allowed to play.

The mistake, which school officials have called a “clerical error,” has cost the players an opportunity to play in the playoffs. The Spartans defeated division-leading Beach Channel High School two weeks ago. The players are devastated that this error won’t give them the chance to compete for the championship.

By the time the team found out about the ruling, it was too late to mount a legal challenge to reverse the decision and allow the team to play.

Meeks & Smith screwed football kids out of money

From the NY Post:

They stiffed Queens kids, too.

More than $400,000 raised by a nonprofit started by Congressman Gregory Meeks and state Sen. Malcolm Smith was never given to the community they represent, including a youth football league that requested a donation, a Post investigation has found.

The Rosedale Jets Football Association went hat in hand to the New Direction Local Development Corp., hoping for a piece of a $250,000 grant that was to go to community groups.

The Jets dutifully submitted an application, hoping to get up to $25,000 to fix up their field. They never got a cent.

Instead of helping the plucky pee-wee players, New Direction spent $405,000 on salaries, mysterious consultants, office expenses and meals, according to paperwork filed by the nonprofit. By 2008, $55,254 was left sitting in its bank account, untouched.

Court rules against football team

From the NY Post:

The Queens Falcons football team’s drive to return to their home field failed because they fumbled on the opening play, a judge ruled today.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Cullen said since the Falcons couldn’t prove they had applied to play in Juniper Valley Park, he was forced to let the ruling on the field stand – the Falcons will have to play their games on the artificial turf fields that the Parks Department assigned them.

"My hands are tied. I’m bound by the law," Cullen said as he punted the Falcons’ bid to regain their old turf in Middle Village.

From the Daily News:

Cullen's decision to toss out the Falcons' lawsuit means they'll have to play their last few games on nearby artificial turf fields.

The city wants the team confined to turf fields, arguing that the pounding and grinding of football cleats do irreparable damage to grass.

Longtime Falcons coach Tim Cavanaugh said the judge made a bad call and insisted the league applied for permits online as they've done for two decades.

"How do you file for a permit for 23 years and then suddenly forget to file?" Cavanaugh said. "It wouldn't make sense."

Cavanaugh claims artificial turf leaches dangerous toxins and has caused high ankle sprains for some of the league's 225 boys, ages 7 to 16.

Too bad you don't play soccer. Because Parks allows those teams to play wherever they want, including on the fields they are banning you from. And if you played Irish football, Bloomberg would direct the city to seek 6 acres of space for you. Learn how to play a tweeder sport and you'll get more respect.

I'm sorry you were forced off the field over which the 9/11 memorial banner honoring your coach, Stephen Hoffman, hangs.

Parks denies denying permit to football team

From the Daily News:

The kids from the Queens Falcons youth football league got sacked for another loss on Tuesday.

Lawyers defending the city against a lawsuit filed by the Maspeth-based league told a Queens judge the kids were never denied a permit to use the grass fields in Juniper Valley Park.

Instead, the city says they never actually applied for the permit.

The Falcons say they did apply for a permit, but were denied because their football cleats chew up the dirt and grass on fields used for baseball in the spring.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Cullen has given them until next week to prove the permit application was in order.

Longtime Falcons coach Tim Cavanaugh accused the city of attempting an end run to avoid telling hundreds of mostly minority kids they can't use the baseball outfields that Falcons teams have been using for two decades.

"Maybe we don't fit the profile of what they want for the community," Cavanaugh said.

That's looking like a stronger possibility since the Parks Department's own website says they do not give out permits for practices... In other words, this sounds like B.S. made up to cover someone's ass.



Adrian?

Dorothy?

Is the Irish football field going here?

Parks boots local team from Juniper Valley Park

From the Daily News:

The Queens Falcons say the Parks Department is trying to push the budding athletes out of Juniper Valley Park and onto artificial turf far from the home of 225 players.

[Coach Tim Cavanaugh] scoffed at the idea that a move to other fields is good for the kids, saying the artificial surfaces might contain toxins.

"Used tires are used to fill these fields - the same tires that gather petroleum, chemicals and toxins from the road," Cavanaugh said in a recent letter.

He also said that youth soccer programs regularly stomp across the Juniper Valley outfield grass in cleats for their matches.

Before the Parks Department rejected the Falcons' permit request last month, the program had been given permission to play at Juniper Valley for 20 years, the suit claims.

If the Falcons are banned from the dirt there, they might have to cancel the upcoming football schedule because nearby turf fields don't have lights or enough parking for games, the suit says.

The field at Juniper Valley has an emotional hold on the players and coaches.

A memorial banner there pays tribute to Greg Hoffman's brother, Stephen, who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We want to play on grass fields that honor Stephen Hoffman," Cavanaugh said.