A COMMUNITY has waged war with their city over commercial truck drivers who are abandoning their massive trailers and littering the streets with trash.
The drivers fumed as their neighborhood was made into a “parking lot” and blasted the half-hearted “barnacle” solution for only making things worse.
Residents in a Queens community near the John F. Kennedy International Airport have been asking New York City for help with monitoring 18-wheeler trucks, trailers, and other commercial vehicles.
Community members say it has become a “virtual parking lot” for larger vehicles, The Gothamist reported.
In Springfield Park, reporters for the outlet noticed a less-than-half-a-mile stretch of at least 17 commercial vehicles parked along the boulevard.
“A number of trailers had been disconnected from their cabs and left abandoned on the street,” the reporter observed.
“License plates on the vehicles hailed from places like Florida and Indiana. One of the trucks, a car carrier, had a boot on its front left tire and a paper notice from the City Sheriff’s Office on its driver-side window.”
In 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a plan called “Operation Heavy Duty Enforcement,” which addressed illegal parking.
However, locals say the parking issues haven’t been taken under control.
Another major problem plaguing the community overshadowed by the massive airport is the high volume of illegal dumping.
The neighborhood was cluttered with trash bags, liquor bottles, and jugs of urine.
“There is a problem. And a big one,” State Senator James Sanders Jr., of southeast Queens and the Rockaways, said in a recent interview.
“Everyone knows that people are flouting the law.”
Resident Sandra Long said truckers “leave a lot of garbage.”
“This is just what goes on,” she told the Gothamist.
Long said the city isn’t strict in enforcing the three-hour residential parking rule.
An NYPD spokesperson told the outlet that 124 parking summons for illegal commercial parking have been issued since December 19.
The spokesperson also noted that some vehicles were towed and others were disabled with tire boots.
Not only is an abandoned car an eyesore, it’s also a hazard to the surrounding community as pests and rodents can take refuge in the interior, engine bay, or trunk.
Leaking fluids can be dangerous for the environment, as many vehicle fluids are toxic and can wreak havoc on ecosystems if they enter waterways.
They can also encourage crime with several cities like Oakland, California reporting that drug dealers may use them to hide and side drugs or weapons.
Abandoned vehicles can also lower property values.
Therefore, they’re worth Specific contact information for your city’s abandoned car hotline may vary, but the necessary information on the vehicle is the same.
When reporting an abandoned vehicle, police will need:
Many cities will allow residents to report abandoned vehicles online through an online form, or it can be called in.
“Everyone is kind of looking the other way. I’m talking city government,” Sanders said.
“The origin of the problem is that we live right by Kennedy Airport. I would argue that everyone knows that people are flouting the law, but a real crackdown would cause Kennedy Airport — the business traffic there — to grind to a halt.”
The city began towing trucks and issuing dozens of summons one week after the initial report of the community’s troubling living conditions.
A spokesperson for the NYPD reported that the department towed 15 vehicles and issued 81 summonses between March 12 and March 14, The Gothamist reported.
