Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Street Cheats

Street Cheats: Parking Enforcement in Downtown Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Eric Adams and his staff always illegally park their cars on the sidewalk at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Today’s installment of Street Cheats takes us to Downtown Brooklyn, where city workers are using a rehabbed Cadman Plaza as their personal parking lot and NYPD has ceded Red Hook Lane sidewalks to government employees and other space hogging randos.

The section of Cadman Plaza pictured above is next to Brooklyn Borough Hall. You might remember that the public recently paid $11 million to resurface the plaza after years of vehicular abuse during the Marty Markowitz era. The status quo continues under Markowitz successor Eric Adams.

A couple of blocks east, our tipster has waged a months-long battle to prod the 84th Precinct to get cars off the sidewalk on Red Hook Lane:

red-hook-ln-1

“I have been reporting it to 311 for almost a year and NYPD closes my complaints with no action,” he writes. “Multiple vehicles are parking illegally on the sidewalk every weekday. This includes work trucks, private vehicles, city vehicles with placards (which do not allow sidewalk parking), and private vehicles with fake or illegal placards.”

redhookln-2

This location is around the corner from the car-clogged Livingston Street bus lane, where NYPD looks the other way as illegally parked drivers force thousands of bus riders to sit in traffic.

Tired of Street Cheats stealing public space where you are? Send your photos to tips@streetsblog.org, and follow along as we map NYC placard abuse.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Who’s Your Train Daddy? Penn Station Boss Andy Byford All But Solicits Bribe For Donald Trump

Andy Byford is back in New York to build a shiny new Penn Station, but he's already admitted he's not the guy in charge.

October 22, 2025

HEAVY TRAFFIC: Driving Continues to Rise, Undermining Literally Every Effort to Make the City Better

The trend of increased vehicle miles traveled undermines safety initiatives, pollution reduction efforts and the traffic mitigation of congestion pricing, a new report makes clear.

October 22, 2025

StreetsPAC: Vote Mamdani For Mayor

StreetsPAC has spoken: here is the group's endorsements for New York City's upcoming general election.

October 22, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines: When ICE Came to Canal Street

Federal agents swarmed all over the blocks around our office on Tuesday, so we went outside and covered it. Plus other news.

October 22, 2025

Redesign for Brooklyn’s Fifth Ave. Shopping Strip Puts Customers First

"The core takeaway from the small business community on this strip is that they want a pedestrian- and transit-priority street," said the architect.

October 22, 2025

Chinatown Plaza Redesign A Good First Step, But City Must Go Bigger

Almost everyone walks through Kimlau Square – even though most of the space is for cars.

October 22, 2025
See all posts