Con Ed Staff Caught Illegally Parking on Sidewalk By Queensboro Bridge

Cars belonging to Con Edison employees assigned to a project on the Queensboro Bridge are squeezing pedestrians into the roadbed as workers illegally park on the sidewalk. On both the east and west sides of Vernon Boulevard at Queens Plaza South, near Queensbridge Park and Queensbridge Houses, sidewalks are being used as private parking for bridge workers. When confronted, Con Ed said it will tell employees to stop parking on the sidewalk.

Yesterday morning, people were stepping off the sidewalk on their way to work. "This is ridiculous, people should feel safer here," said Chris Martin, 24, as he walked in the road to his job on a film shoot in Queensbridge Park.

"I feel that it’s very unsafe here, the streets are busy and people run red lights," said Frankie Cane, 28, who works south of the bridge at Plant Specialists. "Every day, I walk this strip to get lunch... and it just isn’t safe."

Con Ed workers have been placing their orange safety vests on the dashboards of their cars, and according to neighbors, no ticketing has occurred. The area is under the patrol of the 108th Precinct. Calls to the precinct were referred to its community affairs division, which did not respond.

One car displayed a DOT placard. The agency confirmed via email that all the sidewalk parking, including by its staff, is illegal, since "stipulations do not allow for parking on sidewalks and city highway rules dictate DOT construction permits do not allow permit parking for private vehicles."

Con Edison replied in a statement: “We’ve been doing repair work on transmission cables under the bridge and will inform our employees not to park on the sidewalk areas. We apologize for the inconvenience.”