Residents in Lindenwood teamed up with Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder to advocate for parking lines along congested streets in their neighborhood. Photo courtesy Assemblyman Goldfeder
A few little white lines could go a long way for the people in Lindenwood.
Residents and elected officials hit the pavement this week and asked the city Transportation Department to paint parking lines along 157th Avenue between 80th and 77th Street to make for more parking spaces. Which each dash in the concrete, drivers would more easily see their spots and become less likely to violate traffic laws, officials said.
“A small effort from the DOT will allow local residents to have more parking spaces to access their neighborhood,” said state Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Park), who penned a letter to DOT Commissioner Dalila Hall on the subject. “The Department of Transportation should paint larking lines along 157th Avenue to delineate available spaces for drivers and residents.”
In his letter to the DOT, Goldfeder argued that parking lines along those specific Lindenwood routes would create less traffic chaos. The pleas came just months after the city was supposed to paint lines there as part of a project slated for a spring 2014 start. But that project, Goldfeder said, had been postponed without explanation.
The DOT did not return requests seeking comment.
Joann Ariola, president of the Howard Beach-Lindenwood Civic, said her group stood behind Goldfeder’s pleas as parking in her neck of the woods has remained a consistent issue for years. And aside from the obvious benefits of having a more orderly parking situation, Ariola said marked spots would also protect Lindenwood natives from driving themselves crazy with parking tickets.
“Marked legal parking spots are unclear and people are receiving summonses,” she said. “Redefining the lines will clear up all confusion when parking.”
Joe Caruana, president of the Cloverdale Condo Association, said he and his neighbors were growing tired of the random nature of parking throughout his community. He also threw his support behind Goldfeder in his attempt to expedite the DOT’s white line dash.
“This would facilitate parallel parking and prevent cars from currently parking randomly on the street,” he said.
Complaints over parking have been plaguing Lindenwood for years. Community Board 10 has already grappled with similar issues in previous meetings, including one that mulled over new diagonal parking lines along 156th Avenue between 77th and 78th Streets so drivers could only pull into spots when driving west. The board later voted to invert the plan and have cars pull out on the eastbound side instead, but that was never finalized.
At that time, CB 10 members argued that angled parking proposed by the city would be on the same side as some residents’ driveways, which could be dangerous for drivers trying to exit their homes. The DOT said in its rebuttal that diagonal spots as opposed to parallel parking spots would create for a safer environment for the area typically congested with cars.
Goldfeder also joined along with state Sen. Joe Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) and City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) last year to call for parking congestion fixes near PS 232 in Lindenwood, where several people, including one mother and her disabled child, were hit by cars crossing along 153rd Avenue. The city eventually installed a mobile speed board near that spot to help address the hazardous driving situation there.
By Phil Corso
