4 JUNE 14, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Councilman aims to end tickets for parking at illegal curb cuts
available,” Holden said at a public meeting
in his Middle Village offi ce on June 6.
“It’s also a fi re complaint, because if you
park in front of your door you’re blocking
the entrance, and we can’t accept this.”
Holden explained further, in a June
12 call with the Ridgewood Times,
that the NYPD and Department of
Buildings (DOB) would have to come
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Parking in Queens becomes more
diffi cult by the day, and one local
City Council member wants to
stop people from getting ticketed for
parking in front of driveways that
aren’t legal.
Councilman Robert Holden introduced
a bill on May 23 that would
require the NYPD to verify whether
or not a driveway or curb cut was created
legally by the city before issuing a
ticket to a car parked in front of it.
According to Holden, it’s becoming
more common in his 30th District (including
Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth,
Middle Village and parts of Woodhaven
and Woodside) and around the city
to see homeowners spray paint lines
on curbs, park in front of their stoops
or front doors and even have a private
contractor install concrete to make
their driveway bigger and cut more of
the curb down to the road.
It’s oft en done to create more parking
for the homeowner, but it’s illegal
and Holden explained that it’s an “off -
shoot of overdevelopment.”
“It’s going to be an even bigger problem
than it is now, because as more and
more housing is built the less parking is
MEDIA ADVISORY
Middle Village Preparatory Charter School
will conduct its monthly Board of Trustees Meeting
on Wednesday, June 20th, 2018
WHO: Middle Village Preparatory Charter School
WHAT: Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday, June 20th, 2018
TIME: 6:00 PM
WHERE: Multi-Purpose Room at Middle Village Prep
Door # 10
Details are as follows:
68-02 Metropolitan Avenue
Middle Village, NY 11379
All meetings of the Trustees and all committees and subcommittees
are conducted with the New York Open Meetings Law
(N.Y. Public Officers Law §§ 100-111).
up with a system for checking on the
spot whether a driveway is legal or not,
most likely involving an online portal
that can be accessed by mobile phones
or police computers.
If the system gets implemented and
a police offi cer discovers that a car is
parked in front of an illegal driveway,
the car will not be ticketed. Punishing
the building’s owner for creating the
illegal driveway, however, is not as
simple as the offi cer writing them a
ticket instead, Holden said.
For that, a DOB complaint would
have to be filled out, or an officer
would have to witness a vehicle drive
up over the curb to park in front of
a stoop or front door. Holden said he
may propose a change to that policy
that would be attached to this bill.
Yet, the overdevelopment in question
that has created this problem also
includes the illegal conversions that
have been widely complained about
within Holden’s district.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of investment
coming in real estate and
they’re trying to squeeze every inch
out of the property,” Holden said.
“This neighborhood has been doing
basement rentals for over 40 years,
and it’s gotten a lot worse because of
the housing stock.”
While the bill on illegal driveways
awaits review in the Council Committee
on Public Safety, Holden plans to
introduce more legislation to combat
housing issues, he said. One of the
former civic leader’s ideas includes
the formation of a task force to report
properties that are being illegally
converted that would include the members
of the civic groups in his district.
Photo by Ryan Kelley/QNS
Councilman Holden and his legislative director, Daniel Kurzyna, speak
about his bill on illegal driveways and other legislation at a June 6 meeting
in his Middle Village offi ce.
CK board member honored
by Catholic council
Christ the King High School
Board of Trustees Secretary
Dolores St. Louis was honored
as 2018 Catholic Woman of the Year by
the Brooklyn Diocesan Council of the
National Council of Catholic Women.
Serphin R. Maltese, the school’s
Board of Trustees chairman, said,
“We congratulate Dolores St. Louis upon
her being named as 2018 Catholic
Woman of the Year. Dolores’s steadfast
dedication and commitment to
Christ the King High School and her
parish, Our Lady of Hope, serves as
an example of faith and compassion
we all endeavor to achieve.”
Dolores has been an active member
of Our Lady of Hope Church in
Middle Village since her children
had been students at the school. She
has volunteered in numerous capacities
at the school, such as reading
mother and as Cub Scout leader. She
is also dedicated member of the Rosary
Altar Society and Relay for Life.
She has also been fervent supporter
of CK for more than 40 years.
Dolores was an original member of
Photo courtesy of Christ the King High School
the “Committee to Save Christ the
King”, when her sons, Robert and
Paul were attending the high school.
She has had numerous roles within
the CK Community since, including
serving as Executive Assistant to
the Board of Trustees. Dolores continues
to serve as a Board Member
and Secretary of the CK Board of
Trustees.
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