Recently there have been several complaints regarding the ticketing of residents’ vehicles on the three streets currently undergoing bulkhead construction, West 11th, 12th and 13th Roads.
The issue stems from the “No Standing” Temporary Construction parking restrictions in place on all three streets prohibiting parking on one side of the road, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. These restrictions were put in place to ensure unfettered and safe access onto and off of the street by construction equipment being used for the construction of the new bulkheads.
Apparently the problem stems from Traffic Enforcement remaining blissfully unaware of what is happening in the community of Broad Channel and issuing tickets for vehicles parked in a restricted “Construction Zone” on weekdays where no construction activity has been taking place on the street. This problem is a longstanding one and results directly from Traffic Enforcement’s abysmal failure to attempt to establish even a modicum of interaction with our Broad Channel community.
Over the past several years, the residents of Broad Channel who reside on flood prone streets have pleaded to our elected representatives requesting that some sort of compromise be agreed upon between the Police Department, (and especially) Traffic Enforcement and the community regarding parking on the Cross Bay Boulevard median during periods of tidal flooding. Although always hopeful for a viable resolution to this problem with local Traffic Enforcement staff, our pleas have been continually met with sympathetic ears but idle hands.
Prior to Super Storm Sandy, Dan Mundy Jr. attempted to arrange for the Commanding Officer of the Queens Traffic Division to attend the May 24th meeting of the Broad Channel Civic Association to discuss a rash of parking violations issued by his staff early on Saturday morning, May 5th, 2012 during a period of “Super Moon” high tides and accompanying street flooding. Queens Traffic Division chose not to send a representative to the meeting.
Additionally, when the situation was brought to the attention of a Traffic Enforcement supervisor by the Commanding Officer of the 100th Precinct, common sense did not prevail. Traffic Enforcement was not willing to void the summonses even though the supervisor admitted that he was aware of a policy of not issuing summonses to Broad Channel vehicles parked on the Cross Bay median during periods of scheduled flooding tides.
The issue arose once again at the March 29th, 2013 meeting of the Broad Channel Civic Association at which time it was decided to attempt to arrange a meeting between 100th Precinct Community Affairs staff and Traffic Division staff in an effort to bring them up to speed on the ongoing construction and other issues germane to the flood mitigation project in order to address this issue.
The Captain and officers of the 100th Precinct have long made it their business to become involved with the community of Broad Channel. 100th Precinct Community Affairs staff are routinely present at Civic Association meetings and Danny Ruscillo, President of the 100th Precinct’s Community Council is keenly aware of the concerns of our town.
I am not sure if Traffic Enforcement even has a Community Affairs liaison because I would have to assume that we would have heard from them by now.
On the other hand, if Traffic does have a Community Affairs staff person, he or she should be fired and replaced with someone capable of actually getting up from his or her desk and using a GPS to find their way to the next Broad Channel Civic Association meeting.
That being said, there is nothing for us to do save, keep trying. But keep in mind…It is said that the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again and each time expecting a different outcome.
Broad Channel, why would anyone want to live anywhere else?
Contact Information: Email – rtbetweenthebridges@gmail.com
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