Borough Park

Greenfield applauds police crackdown on truck drivers

Says truckers illegally park on street overnight

December 4, 2014 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Cops conducted a crackdown on truck drivers who illegally park their trucks overnight on 21st Avenue. Photo courtesy Councilmember David Greenfield’s office
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Truck drivers who park overnight on a stretch of 21st Avenue in Borough Park have been hit with a flurry of tickets in the past few weeks and at least one elected official is applauding the crackdown.

Councilmember David Greenfield said he requested a ticket blitz to curb wayward truckers.

Greenfield (D-Borough Park-Midwood-Bensonhurst) and Community Board 12 Chairman Yidel Perlstein asked the 66th Police Precinct to take action in the wake of complaints from local residents who charged that truck drivers were illegally parking their trucks overnight on 21st Avenue outside Washington Cemetery.

Under New York City law, it is illegal to park a commercial vehicle on a city street overnight.

Commercial parking along the cemetery not only takes parking spots away from local residents, but also creates a public safety hazard, according to Greenfield, who said that the blocks alongside the cemetery are long and desolate and that when trucks are parked there, people walking on the sidewalk are not visible from the street.

“Commercial parking alongside Washington Cemetery is not only illegal, but it creates a dangerous condition for residents and pedestrians,” Greenfield said.

In recent weeks, Dep. Insp. Michael Deddo, the commanding officer of the 66th Precinct, has had his cops out on the street near the cemetery issuing summonses to truckers.

News 12 Brooklyn reported on Dec. 2 that the 66th Precinct has issued 1,200 summonses to truck drivers for illegally parked trucks since the beginning of the year.

Greenfield and Perlstein said they are grateful for the quick action by Deddo on 21st Avenue.

“This action sends a clear message to everyone that is parking illegally in the 21st Avenue area that Community Board 12, Councilman Greenfield and the 66th Precinct are united in stopping this unlawful behavior. Everyone has a right to feel safe in his or her own community and we will not rest until not a single commercial vehicle is parked on 21st Avenue,” Perlstein said.

Greenfield has also requested that the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) install “No Commercial Parking” signs along the blocks near the cemetery to reinforce the existing law. “Unfortunately at this location there is simply a culture of abusing the law and it’s going to take many more tickets to eradicate this problem,” the councilmember said.

Other measures are being taken to increase pedestrian safety.

DOT has approved Greenfield’s request for additional street lighting along 21st Avenue. Three new streetlamps will be installed in early 2015. Greenfield has also asked DOT to install traffic lights or stop signs on 21st Avenue at 53rd and 57th streets to address chronic speeding problems.

 

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