Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Sunnyside Drag City

Revved up engines, screeching tires and the din of loud music booming out of car windows are among the sounds that are waking up residents throughout Sunnyside late at night.

The noise stems from drag racers who have been tearing up and down the streets and avenues of Sunnyside late at night—often on their way to empty parking lots on 48th Street by Northern Boulevard to burn rubber with hundreds of onlookers.

“It’s been happening every weekend, and two or three random nights during the week,” said Monica Hall, a born and bred Sunnysider who lives on 49th Street by 39th Avenue. “It’s so loud my dogs hide behind the furniture.”

The complaints about drag racing have been piling up in the past two months, with the trouble spots including 39th Avenue, Skillman Avenue, 43rd Avenue as well as 43rd and 48th Streets.

There have been 32 complaints about drag racing in the 11101 and 11104 ZIP codes from Sept.1 through Oct. 5, according to 311 data analyzed by the Queens Post.  For the same period last year, there were just two for those zip codes.

The data also shows that 25 of 32 complaints concern incidents in Sunnyside Gardens and in the Long Island City area near the Home Depot parking by Northern Boulevard, a popular venue for drag racers.

Antoin O’Duibhir, who lives on 39th Avenue by 48th Street, said that the noise has become too much. He says that many of the drag racers tear up local streets with their souped-up cars and then go down to the Home Depot parking lot.

“It’s been going on for weeks,” O’Duibhir said. “It’s like shotguns going off out the back of them. You hear these big pops going off.”

O’Duibhir, fed up by what’s been going on, did some investigative work and checked out what was happening at the Home Depot parking lot on Saturday night.

“I went down there at midnight and there were crowds and crowds of people,” he said. “I would say 500 people and lots of cars too.”

He said that he was stunned by the number of attendees and how organized it was. He said there was even drone capturing footage of the event.

“They have nice cars, souped-up Mercedes and BMWs,” he said. “All have nice wheels, mufflers and dark windows.”

The cars take turns ripping donuts, he said. In one instance, which he recorded, the driver was doing a spin while a passenger was hanging out the car window trying to get the crowd to cheer him on.

“It’s dangerous,” he said, adding that someone will get killed. He said the vehicles spin so close to the spectators.

 

 
 

 

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

So I didn't see any reckless bicycle riders with no insurance or registrations !
Only cars with carless drivers breaking many DMV regulations... What should NYPD do ?

Anonymous said...

I hear those bastards now.Sunnyside Gardens is a very quiet area and their noise keeps me from sleeping
It’s not okay for the Jews to congregate but these bastards can?

Anonymous said...

"So I didn't see any reckless bicycle riders with no insurance or registrations !
Only cars with carless drivers breaking many DMV regulations"

They were on the street out in front of the parking lots. They were too busy riding on the wrong side of the road blowing thru red lights to attend this event.

Anonymous said...

Well since most of the city has decided to side with the criminals and against the cops you really can't complain about this. This actually looks like a peaceful protest to me, and should be encouraged!

Anonymous said...

This has been going on in Maspeth. Drag racing. Racing down and around by the service road. Loud music playing on weekends at 2 am or 5am.
Then you hear the racing all night every day of the week.
Then the fireworks go off.

Anonymous said...

I remember the good old Franny Lew days and thinking how we would never see the city get back to a time when the police wouldn’t be there to stop that within minutes. Now, as I am on the other side of the law, I can say those days are back. Police are not going to get involved in a big crowd gathering to enforce some VTL or noise ordinance bull crap. The city council made it clear many times that the police shouldn’t harass the citizens of NYC for minor violations. This was all decided before the BLM/defund bullshit started. Now the police will definitely not confront a large gathering of young non white youths over loud music and drag racing. It’s a recipe for disaster. If they ticketed every single violation today, tomorrow the politicians will question why certain groups were ticketed more than others. Lawsuits will literally be the end result.

Anonymous said...

Escape From NY was supposed to be a movie, not a blueprint for the future. But apparently dystopia has indeed become reality.

Anonymous said...

These Hasidics have to stop this behavior

Anonymous said...

Drag racing helps these fools cover up their deficiencies in other areas, lack of brains. Also this is just a reflection of the anarchy that pervades the city. I literally tripped over a guy shooting up the other day

Anonymous said...

Isn't That Jimmy's District? Where's he at on this.

Reyx77 said...

DeBlasio would only care if they it front of his house... if the police do anything about it now, I’m sure someone would trip and fall and the policeman would be sent to jail for touching them

Anonymous said...

Funny how its taking place on the Astoria side of the tracks right across the street from the Woodside Houses and not a peep... just like Jimmy Van Bramer who certainly heard it as he lives a few blocks away. If the folks in Sunnyside (which are further away) would have not complained, took pictues, actually showed up to report what was going on ... no one would know.

Of course Astoria is the land of 'Whatchagoonadooo?' so no surprise. The Community Board knows about it but chose not to do anything as it was not Vallonia or rezoning (read development) so its of minor or no concern.

Just don't do this in Astoria Park ... hmmm on second through, go ahead! They still wax poetic up there about drag racing on the BQE back the the 50s and show pix grandpa's souped up jalopies on Shore Road in the '60s so maybe those Sunnyside folks are making a tempest in a teapot. If the hot-rod crowd is looking for real appreciation they just chose the wrong neighborhood.

Go up to 19th Avenue folks. Everything will be fine and you will bring it all home to a community that understands the finer things in life.

Anonymous said...

Is the activity depicted in the video part of the Vision Zero initiative mayor degenerate?

Anonymous said...

So I didn't see any reckless bicycle riders with no insurance or registrations !

In this video you didn't. Wait son, will have the scooter/biker/skate board terror coming in part 2.

Anonymous said...

Why do you folks stay in this awful city. GET OUT. I did and am very happy, only wish I did it even sooner.

Face it, it is not going to get better, EVER. It is a city to fail, too many people and unmanageable as a city.

Anonymous said...

To sum this all up into one word: Douchebags

Anonymous said...

The people in Sunnyside complained and did something about this but for the record its not "in Sunnyside" but "in Astoria!" It too bad Astoria did nothing except find and excuse to do nothing! Not one person from Astoria was interviewed by NY1.

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/public-safety/2020/10/08/queens-parking-lot-attracts-joy-riding-motorheads?cid=app_share&fbclid=IwAR0djpCv-3jq2wVGlAsRF2V94aTmxueHgsHsxCDWUbfoGM73XXlOZ0h74j4

Now when is Astoria going to say something about the Hooverville growing a block away from this mayhem?

Warren Wilhelm's Utopia said...

It’s not okay for the Jews to congregate but these bastards can?

Orthodox Jews are largely Trump voters, so it's not OK for them to congregate.

Fast and the Furious Drag Racers are vibrant, diverse, and De Blasio/Biden supporters, so they may congregate.

It's all fun and games until someone gets killed. Then it's the fault of White people!

Anonymous said...

To Warren's Utopia ~

I was thinking the same thing!

Anonymous said...

As I write this someone is putting his car through the paces basically telling the community that this is part of the defunded police so just lay back and enjoy it. NY1 be damned.

Isn't it great that the Democrats have wasted the past 4 yours doing little but attacking Trump on our dime, and when they got nowhere, turn their minions on a path of mayhem and riot on innocent people (that the media refuses to cover but has the time to go ape-sh*t breathlessly reporting every second that Trump's very existence throws them into apoplectic fits).

Hot rods in Sunnyside Gardens, low income housing for Soho, rioting Hasidim, my my the left is now devouring its own. (snark snark)

Anonymous said...

Make AOC bartend again.

Anonymous said...

If you want to clean up NYC, VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!

Anonymous said...

If you want to clean up NYC, VOTE REPUBLICAN!!!

Actually vote American.
Plenty of RINO-s, plenty of Marxists.
Do your research before you vote for anyone.

Anonymous said...

Close the religious establishments, but support protests, rioting, murder, and looting.
Basically sums up NYC...

Anonymous said...

We've been hearing fast cars making multiple exploding sounds like gunshots all over the place.What's up? can you buy these mufflers,are they legal and do the cops ticket them?The guys driving these cars must have mental issues,how can anyone think it's cool?

Anonymous said...

We can't go to concerts, church, ball games, museums, hell even parks at one time, but it's absolutely ok for "peaceful" protests and imbecilic drag racing to go on.

Anonymous said...

But,but, but...you moron New Yorker's keep voting for these loser democrats in every election. Some of the very people who are complaining about this are the very same people who have elected democrats to office for, not just decades, but generations. I don't cry for you NYC. Embrace the future that you made!

Anonymous said...

**We've been hearing fast cars making multiple exploding sounds like gunshots all over the place.**

Is a chip, very popular nowadays. Makes the rice rockets more intimidating. At least the sound of them.

*The guys driving these cars must have mental issues,how can anyone think it's cool?*

Not qualified to voice my opinion about their mental health, but I do agree is not cool and something needs to be done about this. One can race, go to a track, pay the fee and go for it.
I don't think public streets in residential areas are for racing or showing off the latest trends in automotive development.

Anonymous said...

We can't go to concerts, church, ball games, museums, hell even parks at one time

Let me rephrase your observation. We are not allowed to be human beings, socialize, live our lives as normal human beings due to some virus, rigged PCR tests, flat out lying about test and virus, money, power, crimes committed by those with money and, or power.

Get the picture now?

Anonymous said...

Close the religious establishments, but support protests, rioting, murder, and looting.
Basically sums up NYC...

Is called a "Color Revolution". We did it to many countries. Check, get informed. Now is time for this great country demise, according to the globalist, marxist crew.

Anonymous said...

We've been hearing fast cars making multiple exploding sounds like gunshots all over the place.What's up? can you buy these mufflers, are they legal and do the cops ticket them


DeBlas let the legislation banning them expire - but then, its those white people that always spoil real fun so its fine now.

Anonymous said...

All Muffers Matter !

Anonymous said...

AMM - Love it!

Anonymous said...

It fucking sucks with all these cars having gunshot mufflers racing all night on the Cross Island Parkway and the Clearview. The parking lots at Little Bay Park must be closed after sunset to help stop this shit.