BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Six days into his tenure as
Brooklyn Borough President,
before his new website has
launched or any policy decisions
have been made, Antonio
Reynoso has one thing to say:
keep your cars off my plaza.
Or, perhaps, our plaza.
“The Borough Hall has been
rid of cars and returned to the
people,” the former councilman
Tweeted on Wednesday. “If you
don’t know, now you know.”
New signs posted around
the plaza warn motorists
against parking on the wide
concrete plaza sandwiched between
Court Street and Columbus
Park in front of Borough
Hall, at risk of being towed.
Reynoso’s position on parking
on the public square is more
than just preserving the public
space, which is often bustling
with pedestrians going about
their day in busy Downtown
Brooklyn. His predecessor,
now-mayor Eric Adams, infamously
allowed his employees
to park their private vehicles
all over the plaza during his
eight-year tenure as beep, going
so far as to outright refuse
to ask them to park elsewhere.
At a 2019 town hall convened
COURIER L 4 IFE, JANUARY 14-20, 2022
by Adams after he was
criticized for his lack of action
on parking placard abuse on
the streets surrounding his offi
ce, constituents asked how he
would curb the illegal parking
his own staff were taking part
in every day. Citing the constant
rule-breaking by other
city agencies and employees,
Adams said he would refuse to
abide by “two standards.”
“I fought my entire life to
make sure men that look like
me don’t have different rules
than anyone else,” he said at
the town hall. “There’s one rule
in this city, there’s not going to
be a rule just for Eric Adams,
the fi rst African-American
borough president.”
Adams said he only allowed
his female employees who
worked late nights to park on
the plaza, for their own safety
— but later said that there was
enough space on the plaza for
private parking and public use.
Reynoso was one of fi ve
councilmembers who opted not
to accept a placard in 2018, according
to Streetsblog.
Days before he departed offi
ce, former mayor Bill de Blasio
announced the rollout of
new digital placard readers,
which would allow traffi c offi -
cers to more easily determine
if city-issued parking permits
sitting on the dashboards of
parked cars are legitimate.
The program was to launch
fi rst in northern Brooklyn,
with a “special emphasis” on
Downtown, home of Borough
Hall and many municipal
buildings.
Two years ago, the city’s
parks department vowed to
end parking on the plaza by
the end of 2021, though, on Jan.
3 — two days before Reynoso
posted photos of the empty
plaza and new no-parking
signs — sharp-eyed observers
noted that there were still cars
with expired placards parked
illegally on the plaza.
“Small victory for the everyday
citizen (in the grand
scheme of things,” said one
Brooklyn resident in response
to Reynoso’s tweet. “I hope
the movement to hold everyone
equally accountable gains
traction.”
The new “No Parking” sign outside
the plaza.
New Borough President Antonio Reynoso has put an end to illegal parking
on the plaza at Borough Hall. Photos by Aiddan Graham
A park not for parking!
Brand-new beep bans parking from Borough Hall plaza
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