Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Car clubs party on at Flushing Meadows

From the Queens Tribune:

Hundreds of drivers have been performing dangerous stunts and blasting loud music at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, tormenting neighbors and frustrating police.

Like a scene from the movie “The Fast and The Furious,” the drivers drift their souped up cars through a parking lot near Meadow Lake, Deputy Inspector Ronald Leyson said at a Community Council meeting Thursday night. They have also taken over lots at Willets Point across from Citi Field, and near the marina by the Grand Central Parkway.

Elliot Tayman, who lives in Hyde Park Gardens just off the Van Wyck Expressway, said he has been enduring “high pitched” and “defeaning” sounds from mufflers and screeching wheels.

“All the sounds really do travel like a tsunami,” Tayman said.

“It’s been a chronic 311 complaint for me for the past couple of months,” Leyson said.

The drivers range in age from teenagers to thirtysomethings and typically belong to car clubs, which for a time the precinct was monitoring on social media, until the clubs caught on.

According to Leyson, the sheer number of drivers and bystanders makes the drifting difficult to combat. He said that the drivers congregate on an inconsistent schedule, and safely blocking in the parking lot near Meadow Lake requires at least 20 cops, while handing out summonses can take hours.

Compounding the problem, many of the drivers seem undeterred by enforcement tactics. During one weekend, the 110th precinct gave out 83 summonses one night, only to give out 94 the next, Leyson said.

“You’d think they would learn,” he added.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Back in the day they would send in a few plainclothes cops. They would in turn notify the supervisor running the operation. Unmarked cars and highway units along with esu would summos,arrest and take the cars. Apparently the nypd has given up. Demand more cops!

Anonymous said...

I hear their "Crap" in North Flushing even with my windows shut.

Anonymous said...

There are hardly enough cops in sector cars answering the radio calls. The manpower required to shut this nonsense down is not always there to respond to this. We need more cops in the city but the administration is more worried about pandering to illegals and project dwellers than the public safety of the middle class.

Anonymous said...

Why has this problem not been put to bed already? This comes up every year. I can set my watch to it!
Stop the lawbreakers?

Anonymous said...

The bikes' screeching sounds are nothing compared to the deafening roars of airplanes taking off from LGA and flying over residential areas.

Anonymous said...

How about the cars get impounded? Let's face, there are not enough middle class folk who care about this park to demand action. this park is a disaster compared to what it can be.

Anonymous said...

i live near hyde park gardens, and there have been many saturday nights wehre even at 3 in the AM with the air on you still hear the bass go all the way to jewel ave. i thought i was going crazy

A Better NYC said...

Absolutely, positively, 100% ghetto-fabulous!!!

Anonymous said...

arrests and deportations.

Anonymous said...

Apparently the nypd has given up. Demand more cops!

hound your politicians and your community board and embarrass them in all the media.

why doesn't anyone do this? are you afraid of them? then suffer loser.

Not Black Don't Shoot said...

Jewel Ave? You can hear that crap all the way down Park Dr E!

Anonymous said...

Simple solution - Highway 3 & Queens North Task Force conduct a raid issue summonses, make arrests & confiscate vehicles & that crap will stop

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
"The bikes' screeching sounds are nothing compared to the deafening roars of airplanes taking off from LGA and flying over residential areas."

Make a statement and sign the petition on the right side of Queens Crap's page.

Anonymous said...

It would be nice if the cops could seize their vehicles.