They're always cited after it's too late

From CBS 2:

The New York City Department of Buildings on Friday ordered a Brooklyn laundromat to remove an illegal parking where a young girl was fatally struck by a vehicle last month.

Residents say they’ve complained about the parking lot before because cars have no driveway across to the street, forcing people to drive perilously onto the sidewalk to park.

The DOB called for the immediate removal of the parking lot, which the NYPD already has blocked off.

DOB records reveal that this laundromat was established in 2002. Since that time, the DOB has been visiting to cite the owner for an elevator violation. I guess they failed to notice the parking lot on the way in for all these years.

Composting program not progressing as planned

From the Queens Chronicle:

The city’s Department of Sanitation is delaying plans to expand curbside collections of compostable kitchen and yard waste beyond the program’s current footprint.

But DSNY officials say neighborhoods that already place their waste in brown bins for recycling will continue receiving the service while the city looks to adjust some aspects of the program.

“We believe that for the program to be successful over the long term, we must ensure New Yorkers are getting the very best service when curbside organics collection reaches their neighborhoods,” the DSNY said in a statement to the Chronicle. “To achieve this, the City is evaluating its current service with the goal of increasing efficiencies and streamlining the program and has temporarily placed the schedule for expanding the curbside organics program on hold.”

The agency expects to have a modified expansion schedule in the coming months.

The DSNY said it is expanding its outreach effort in communities that are slated to join the program soon after it restarts.

Truck parking legislation sounds nice, but there's no enforcement

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Queens delegation to the City Council wants to ratchet up the economic pressure on commercial truck drivers who illegally park their rigs on the borough’s streets.

Three large trucks, including a pair of 18-wheelers, served as an unwitting backdrop on Springfield Boulevard in Cambria Heights last Friday as Councilman Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) announced a pair of bills that have been introduced in the Council to try and rein in the big rigs.

The press conference, held one day after the Council passed a bill that significantly increases fines for everything from illegal dumping to throwing trash from a car window, was billed as a quality-of-life statement by Miller, Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica) and Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), chairman of the Committee on the Environment.

Their location on Friday, at the intersection with 121st Avenue, was no accident.

“There are a few trucks here now, but come here after 4 p.m., especially on Friday and the weekend,” he said, “you could have 20 trucks parked along this road. And they keep the motors running because they’re in the cabs and then need air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter.”

Not to mention the taking of on-street parking, and, Adams said, the danger of having to walk on sidewalks behind large trucks, largely obscured from view, giving cover to potential muggers and attackers.

Intro. 1011, the Commercial Truck Abuse Reduction Act, would cut the time that a tractor-trailer combination, truck or semi trailer can be parked in half, to 90 minutes from the existing limit of three hours.

Intro. 1011 would increase the fine for a first offense from $250 to $400; and subsequent violations in the next six months from $500 to $800.

Close call in Bay Ridge

From CBS 2:

It happened without warning on 4th avenue near 95th street in Bay Ridge Monday afternoon. The two women were reportedly standing on the sidewalk waiting for the bus when the giant structure came down, burying one of victims and knocking down the other.

The Department of Buildings issued violations to the owner for failure to maintain the building. During their inspection, they also found an un-permitted demolition project inside and issued a stop work order.

“You can see the wood in the wood looks very old,” Bay Ridge resident Barbara Milo said while looking at the fallen awning left outside the damaged business.

The victim, who was thrown into the wall, is out of the hospital but has a concussion. The woman pinned under the debris is still in the hospital.

The new Astoria stations are spiffy