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Commercial truck parking along North and South Conduit avenues has been an issue for several years for South Ozone Park residents.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The City Council on Thursday voted to approve a bill that would create a higher fine for commercial vehicles that are tractor-trailer combinations, tractors, truck trailers or semi-trailers parked overnight on a residential street. The fine for a first violation is currently $250, and for a second violation within a six-month period it is $500. This measure would create increased fines adjudicated through the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings in the amount of $400 and $800 for the first and second offenses, respectively.
“The drivers of commercial tractor-trailers routinely abuse our City’s parking regulations, and degrade the quality-of-life of communities throughout the five boroughs by parking next to homes and other inappropriate locations, leaving pollution and debris in their wake,” said the bill’s sponsor, Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans). “The current fines imposed on big-rig drivers have not been effective in curbing their abusive practices, which they deem the cost of doing business, but, in actuality, the greatest expense is the health and safety of our communities. Now, we will send a clear message to the bad actors operating within the trucking industry that the price for such flagrant abuses will be steep. I thank Speaker Johnson and my colleagues for supporting the enactment of this measure. The time has come to bring the force of law to bear on those who routinely flout the rules and engage in commercial truck abuse, and this legislation only represents the beginning of that endeavor.”
Last year, with help from concerned readers, The Forum was able to document dangerous conditions in South Ozone Park resulting from trucks and trailers parked for days at a time near busy intersections along both North and South Conduit avenues.
