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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, DECEMBER 8, 2019
Postal workers illegal parking
hurting Park Slope businesses
BY BEN VERDE
AND JOE HITI
Ninth Street business
owners say their bottom
line is suffering due to a
lack of parking spaces on
the two-way strip, thanks
in part to rampant illegal
parking by United States
Postal Service employees
and a new road design
that restricts double
parking.
“There should be a lot
of cars pulling in and out
on that block, but we walk
down the block and every
other car has a postal
hat and shirts in the window,”
said Lauren Kotsis,
owner of the Bagel
Pup, which is located one
door down from the Ninth
Street post office.
The parking spaces on
Ninth Street are metered,
but USPS employees –
whose placard abuse along
the east-west thoroughfare
has been well documented
in the Brooklyn
Paper – skirt regulations
by displaying agency merchandise
on their dashboards,
leading NYPD
meter maids to give them
a pass and creating an unfair
system that is harming
small businesses, according
to Kotsis.
“We’re paying $300
for a parking space so we
don’t illegally park or double
park,” she said. “They
should get to work early
like everybody else.”
USPS previously
stripped Ninth Street employees
of their placards after
the Brooklyn Paper uncovered
widespread abuse
– but employees have now
resorted to leaving hats or
patches in their windows.
The USPS and the
NYPD did not respond to
requests for comment by
deadline.
Further complicating
things, a 2018 road redesign
added a bike lane
and narrowed the driving
lane, making it impossible
to double park and quickly
run into a business.
“Nobody can even
pull over anymore,” said
Larry, the owner of Fifth
Avenue Key Store, located
on Ninth Street, who
would only give his first
name. “I used to have customers
that would say
‘all-right, wait in the car
for a minute while I get
a key.’ They can’t do that
anymore.”
The protected bike
lane on Ninth Street was
upgraded from a standard
bike lane in 2018, as
part of a series of safety
upgrades the city implemented
after a horrific
crash at Fifth Avenue
left two children dead
and sent three adults
— including a pregnant
woman who later miscarried
— to the hospital.
Larry said he’s not
against a bike lane in
front of the store, but
that he wishes the road
design had left space for
double parking. Ever
since the redesign, Larry
says traffic to his store
has dropped off dramatically.
“They don’t come in
no more because there’s
no place to park,” he said.
“This used to be one of
the busiest stores in this
area. If they can’t stop for
just a second they’re not
gonna come in.”
Locals are furious over illegal parking on Ninth Street in Park Slope, wher USPS workers routinely litter their dashboards with placards,
government uniforms, and even bibles to evade parking tickets. Photos by Joe Hiti
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