Walking the car-clogged sidewalks of Northern Boulevard this morning with street safety advocates and press in tow, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer called on two NYPD precincts to crack down on auto dealerships that treat pedestrian space as car showrooms.
"They have a right to make money," Van Bramer said of the dealerships. "But they do not have a right to block the sidewalks."
Northern Boulevard regularly ranks as one of the most dangerous streets in Queens. Van Bramer, standing outside PS 152 at the intersection where 8-year-old Noshat Nahian was killed on his way to school in 2013, said parking cars on the sidewalks doesn't help the situation. "Northern Boulevard is busy enough, dangerous enough," he said. "We cannot accept pedestrians' lives being put in danger in order to sell cars."
PS 152 principal Vincent Vitolo said he has spoken with dealerships next to the school about keeping the sidewalks clear for students. But after brief bouts of compliance, the dealers put cars back onto the sidewalk, blocking the way for kids going to school. "We're in touch with all the dealerships around us," he said. "Nobody's perfect."
Cristina Furlong of Make Queens Safer said representatives of a Honda dealership told her there was an exception in state law that allows car dealerships to park on sidewalks. The claim appears to be a complete fiction, and police occasionally do ticket the dealers for appropriating sidewalk space.
Van Bramer said his office has reached out to many of the dealerships, and met with the 108th and 114th precincts yesterday about the issue. While the precincts have done some enforcement blitzes in the past, the dealerships remain defiant. The problem is worse on the weekends, when dealers put out even more display cars on the sidewalks.
"There are some problems, some community issues, that ultimately seem intractable and people come to accept them as 'that's just the way it is,'" Van Bramer said. "These businesses cannot accept these tickets as a cost of doing business."
