Readers: Remove all on street parking forever!
COURIER LIFE, AUG. 9-15, 2019 31
City transit offi cials pulled a
fast one on Clinton Hill motorists
last month, turning parking
spots on their residential block
into loading zones — and the only
notice they got was the tow truck
speeding off with their car, angry
locals claim.
“They should have notifi ed the
residents on the block, I’ve been
here for 70 years, the sign just went
up and it’s just unconscion able,”
said Linda Vital.
The new parking regulations,
which took affect on Greene Avenue
near Cambridge Place on July 15,
is part of a new citywide pilot program
to transform on-street parking
into loading zones Mondays to
Fridays, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on residential
thoroughfares throughout
all fi ve boroughs, Kings County
Politics was fi rst to report.
Locals weren’t thrilled with the
loss of parking, but they were furious
with the underhanded way the
Department of Transportation deployed
their new parking regulations,
and nearby residents to the
streets and rallied in opposition to
the scheme Thursday night.
“This is a total surprise,” said
Gloria Patton. “They don’t really
communicate much.”
Readers shared their thoughts
online:
Get used to it! Thousands of free
storage spots for your car is going to
be taken away. The streets belong to
the public and if the public wants to
used them for other than car storage,
then that is what is going to happen.
If you do not have a place to store your
car on your own property, do not own
a car. Jack from Brooklyn
Why don’t they just buy parking
garages, or tell their chauffeurs
to just drive around until they need
a lift again? These people are so
spoiled.
Elaine from Upper East Side
Ridiculous, what the heck is going
to be ‘unloaded’ ? Maybe they need
loading zones for all these amazon
deliveries? But removing parking on
a whole block? Taco
Good! Let’s keep it rolling. Why
should my taxes pay to store somebody
else’s car?
j wein from Bed-Stuy
The neighborhood streets would
be so much better without all these
hideous ugly cars clogging up the
otherwise beautiful streets.
Leif Ericsson 33rd from
MNH QNS BKL
I wonder what happened to the
original streets for loading. Are they
being turned into bike lanes? Either
way, another punishment for car
owners by the City. Vote them out.
Ro from Park Slope
If folks double-park NEXT TO
a wide open parking space, what
will stop them from double-parking
NEXT TO a wide open loading zone.
We need aggressive towing of doubleparking.
(By the way, these are the
same people who use their hazard
lights when they are parked *legally*
because they are such antisocial aholes,
they just assume they are doing
something illegal.)
Tyler from pps
Aggressive towing and heavy
fi nes is the only way to combat these
scoffl aws. They are so selfi sh that
they only care about themselves.
Crush their vehicles into cubes and
charge them for the service.
Henry Ford from Bay Ridge
Greene Ave from Cumberland St
to Classon Ave is traveled by the B52
bus in both directions. When any
vehicle double parks the buses cannot
maneuver on the narrow 2 way
street. I once attempted to take that
bus from the Classon Ave to Cumberland
St but got off at Washington
Av and walked to my destination because
it was faster. With that said
I don’t believe this going to change
a thing because Lyft, Uber stop directly
in front of the pick up and/
or drop of location and if that location
is not within the delivery zone.
than you will still have double parking.
Just observe the next time you
or anyone else gets in or out of a Lyft
or Uber. 99% percent of the time they
are going to pick up and drop off at
the exact location. They are not going
to pull into a loading zone, an
open parking spot or even a hydrant
to make sure the street remains
clear. They won’t do it for fear of a
lower rating since now the customer
has to walk a little extra. FedEx and
UPS will also just stop right in front
of the location too. Especially if the
delivery is large and heavy.
Stacey from Clinton Hill
I agree with you Stacey from Clinton
Hills, I lived on Bergen Street just
off Nostrand and this unloading zone
is ——! There is a UPS store on the
block that has a loading zone yet people
double park all the time that interferes
with the B65 bus. I have had
a car for over 40 years but I don’t even
drive it much because there are people
on the block that has 2 cars. It is
getting ridiculous in terms of parking
now. The city has taken away the
free parking on the major avenues
and I wonder what is next. What happened
to people parking by a hydrant
to unload or load if they are moving?
Why did the city chose to pick these
streets that have bus routes? What
the city should do is just ticket the
dam cars that are double parked! You
drive, you know the risk! It has gotten
so bad on Bergen/dean street,
people have no regard about these
streets being bus routes and will double
park anyway instead of going on
Pacifi c or St. Marks to double park.
This is just another scam for the city
to make revenue.
Lawrence from
North Crown Heights
That’s heli-expensive
Scuba cops rappelled from a helicopter
into Prospect Park Lake
amid the very dramatic rescue of
an allegedly “erratic” swimmer on
Aug. 1.
Parkgoers gazed in awe as the
police chopper swooped into action,
its rotors sending ripples
through the usually placid lake as
an action squad of two police scuba
divers descended on the clothed
swimmer about a hundred feet off
the coast of Brooklyn’s Backyard.
Police claim the man acted in
an “erratic fashion” as he plunged
into Prospect Park’s largest body
of water — an abyss that descends
to an interminable maximum
depth of seven feet — shortly before
noon on Thursday, ignoring park
rules that forbid swimming in the
lake, and not to mention the peril
of blue-green algae, a cyanobacteria
that produces two forms of
deadly toxins, and has plagued the
lake every summer since 2013.
New York’s Finest dive team dutifully
terminated the man’s afternoon
swim by dragging him to the
shore, where offi cers strapped him
to a waiting gurney, before paramedics
ferried him to Park Slope’s
Methodist Hospital for psychiatric
evaluation, cops said.
Readers thought it was a little
much online:
What a waste of money. They could
easily have achieved the same effect
with a large spoon or something.
Mary from Carol Gardens
Huge waste of money! Who authorized
this??
Lynne Thomas
The handcuff bash was excessive
but damn it’s like homeboy was trying
to thug out the cop tho. Plus driving
90 down these streets you gonna
kill somebody’s kid.
Effy from Bed stuy
Freeze!
A beloved Dumbo ice cream shop
recently forced out of the neighborhood
is making a sweet comeback.
Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory —
which operated out of the historic
fi reboat house at Fulton Ferry
Landing for 17 years before closing
last December — will open a new
storefront just steps from its old
shop, facing off against the rival
that scooped it out, said the Factory’s
co-founder.
“The Ice Cream Factory was a
fi xture in the neighborho od,” said
Mark Thompson. “We were forced
out of the space, and I left gracefully
— but I couldn’t get ice cream
out of my blood.”
Thompson hopes to open his new
space, at 14A Old Fulton Street,
in October. The location will be a
walk-up window based in a hollowed
out cargo container, near
the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge
Park.
Readers discussed the news online:
No matter how often you try,
you can’t place Old Fulton Street in
Dumbo when it is in the Fulton Ferry
Historic District. Also, the Fireboat
House concession is leased by the
Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation,
not the Conservancy.
Bill from Fulton Ferry
Too bad this historic neighborhood,
which once had a well-patinaed
cum derelict character, has become a
tourist and swell-infested circus.
Former-Fulton-Ferrier
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