Car owners who illegally park on Northern Boulevard over the next few weeks won't get tickets, thanks to a misunderstanding between the NYPD and the Department of Transportation over how well each does its job, Streetsblog has learned.
The battle of the agencies has roots in the demise this winter of the DOT's temporary protected bike lane on Northern Boulevard — a pandemic project that carved out a few feet of space along the curb between Broadway and the Queensboro Bridge with some parking moved off the curb.
So we asked the DOT and the NYPD what's going on — and both sides pointed the finger at each other.
NYPD to DOT: Sign? What sign. Photo: A trusted source
First, an officer with the 114th Precinct said that cops would not be ticketing drivers who park along the curb because the temporary bike lane had expired. "As of now, cars can park there," this source said.
In response, the DOT told us that cars certainly cannot be parked there, and that, in short, the cops are wrong. Also, the DOT promised to paint a new bike lane and install new protections on the bike lane in May. The agency pointed out that signs explained to drivers last year that they can't park along the curb, which is still a bike lane (see sign, right).
When a Streetsblog correspondent went back to the NYPD to see if the signs made any different, a different officer at the 114th Precinct responded that the NYPD doesn't care much for the signs because of "clear miscommunication" from the DOT.
"It is completely unreasonable," the officer said, "for motorists to adhere to these rules that are obscurely posted on a pole the size of a sheet of paper. I honestly didn't know [the rules], and I'm a police officer."
The officer reiterated that the 114th Precinct "will wait" to resume enforcement of illegal parking in the bike lane "until the DOT conducts a prominent painting of the lanes as they have done on Crescent Street."
DOT did not respond to a follow-up request for information about the dispute.
The Department of Transportation wants the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program to simply expire in part because it did not dramatically improve safety among these worst-of-the-worst drivers and led to a tiny number of vehicle seizures.
The capitulation on Fordham Road is the latest episode in which the mayor has delayed or watered down a transportation project in deference to powerful interests.
That headline above is a reference to the last line of James Joyce's Ulysses, which we won't pretend to have read. But we have that ... and other news.