A disheveled, overgrown spit of public land under the pounding traffic of the BQE has been freed from the scourge of dozens of illegally parked cars for the first time in decades.
The shambolic lot on Navy Street near Tillary Street had been used illegally for parking for dozens of years. Now, it’s dotted by signs warning that it’s a tow-away zone. Councilmember Lincoln Restler is taking credit for spurring the tickets and tows that cleared the lot.
He’s made placard abuse and illegal parking one of his top issues and said the former pop-up junkyard is only the beginning.
“ A significant majority of the folks who are parking illegally are government workers and government contractors who just don't care about the rules and do whatever they want,” Restler said. “It’s convenient for them and it sucks for the rest of us.”
Over the summer, Restler ordered his staffers to fan out across 60 blocks of Downtown Brooklyn, to figure out exactly how many cars were parked illegally each day. There were 457 cars parked illegally on average, and almost two thirds had some type of parking placard or talisman like an NYPD vest on the dashboard to avoid tickets.
Barely any of the cars were given parking tickets, according to a report released Monday.
Restler said the recent crackdown on Navy Street came after a meeting with NYPD Transportation Chief Olufunmilola Obe.
“They said to us, ‘Highlight the hotspots where you need our intervention, where you need our enforcement,’” he recalled.. “And that was one in particular that we called out.
Micheal Redman, 58, said he remembered the space being covered by parked cars since before 9/11.
“It looks outstanding. I'll be honest with you, me, myself, a park worker, I'm into the green streets and cleaning. This looks beautiful,” he said.
Redman acknowledged that parking in the area is horrendous: “ Downtown Brooklyn, I'll be honest with you, it sucks.”
A block that houses the 84th Precinct and a firehouse as well as the area around the courthouses on Adams Street were the ripest for abuse, Restler’s report found.
There were an average of 36 cars gumming up traffic and forcing pedestrians to slalom down the sidewalk on Tillary St. between Prince and Navy Streets when council staffers surveyed the area over the summer.
Restler is using the report to push legislation he’s previously introduced that would claw back as many as 60,000 city parking permits.
Juliet Garcia, 53, has been navigating the streets of Downtown Brooklyn on a mobility scooter for five years. She said the parking situation is an injustice for people who rely on clear sidewalks to move around.
“ It's just not fair. Why should everybody be inconvenienced for y'all?,” she asked.
