This is one of the funniest embarrassing moments of @NYCMayor so far. Illegal ATVs and dirt bike riders disrupting the announcement of the first @LinkNYC sentinel tower in the Bronx.
— JQ LLC: The Impunity City (@ImpunityCity) July 11, 2022
Now that's what swagger looks like pic.twitter.com/M0xoqcHHOS
Despite a push from Mayor Adams to address the ongoing issue of ATVs, dirt bikes and other unlicensed vehicles taking over the streets in packs, videos have continued to circulate and complaints to be aired, especially after this past weekend, as traffic again was thwarted by the brigades.
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) said it has been “three Sundays of absolute terror,” as the collection of unlicensed off-roaders bombard the streets of Rockaway, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Woodhaven, Ozone Park and even the boardwalks.
She said a combination of 300 to 500 motorcycles, ATVs, dirt bikes and more fly through at high speeds, jump curbs and terrorize neighborhoods.
And the problem, she said, affects the greater Queens County.
Their route, she said, seems to be from the Marine Parkway Bridge, along the Rockaway Peninsula, over the Cross Bay and Addabbo bridges and through Howard Beach and Woodhaven.
Videos shared to social media show the packs blatantly disregarding traffic rules and halting the flow.
Some even take to Facebook to warn others, like one user who posted in the Howard Beach Dads group on Sunday warning Howard Beach residents to stay off Cross Bay Boulevard at that time because what she said looked like over 100 ATVs and dirt bikes were “flying through and driving recklessly” in Broad Channel. She called the scene “unnerving.”
Phyllis Inserillo, co-president of the Howard Beach Lindenwood Civic Association and Ariola’s chief of staff, said she was caught in the middle of it on Sunday while trying to turn onto Cross Bay.
“I had the green light to go,” she said. “They had no care in the world. They were giving me the finger ... cursing me out like I was doing something wrong. I could not believe it.”
Then she watched as a woman leaving Cold Stone Creamery got knocked right over on the sidewalk by the motorists, launching ice cream everywhere.
At the end of June, the NYPD and Adams announced in a press conference that nearly 100 of the vehicles had been seized and were crushed and he laid out a summer plan that included appointing patrol borough inspectors to map motorbike ride-outs, hosting weekly strategy sessions, utilizing field intelligence officers to identify storage and meeting spots and analyzing 311 complaints.
