There’s more than one way, they say, to skin a cat, and presumably, the old adage would apply to illegally parked trucks as well.
Indeed, faced with the ongoing problem of trucks that brazenly park on the streets of Canarsie overnight, ignoring ordinances that prohibit it, local activists, businesspeople and elected officials are seeking ways of making the practice a costly one for those who violate the law.
Assemblymember Alan Maisel told members of the Friends United Block Association (FUBA), gathered at Temple Shaare Emeth, 6012 Farragut Road, for the group’s May meeting, that he is working with State Senator John Sampson and City Councilmember Lewis Fidler to develop legislation that would up the ante for truckers who leave their trucks parked on city streets when they are not allowed to be there.
Truckers don’t mind getting the occasional ticket, Maisel stressed, because, currently, “The fine for violating the rule is very, very low.
“It’s cheaper to get a ticket every once in a while than to pay quite a bit of money to find an off−street lot to put your large vehicle in,” Maisel added, noting that tickets for the offense now set the truckers back a mere $65, way less than the $2,000 or $3,000 monthly cost to park the truck in a lot.
However, to raise the fine, Maisel went on, requires New York City to send a home rule message to the state legislature requesting an increase. This, he said, is what he, Fidler and Sampson hope to have done shortly.
That would pave the way for the state to increase the fines. “The initial fine would be $100, and there would be a second violation and a third violation,” Maisel explained, adding, “The fine would be based upon the number of axles. A two axle truck would be $100, a three−axle truck would be $150, and then it would go up to maybe $750. That’s real pain.
“Hopefully, if we get the fines raised, you will see less and less of these vehicles,” Maisel contended.
Booting −− which immobilizes the trucks −− is a good way of discouraging illegal on−street parking by truckers, Maisel added, because it is both costly and inconvenient for the truckers. However, he noted, there are few truck boots in the city, which means that the officers at the 69th Precinct often don’t have access to them.
In fact, the precinct has gotten the truck boot to use approximately once a month, Captain Milt Marmara told members of the United Canarsie South Civic Association (UCSCA), gathered at the Hebrew Educational Society, 9502 Seaview Avenue, the following week, for their May meeting.
In general, Marmara said, the precinct focuses on a few key spots −− Foster Avenue, around Canarsie Cemetery, and around Seaview Avenue.
“Every month, we have a unit that comes from Manhattan, and they have these big truck boots that we don’t have,” Marmara explained.
That, however, should soon change. John Salogub, president of the 69th Precinct Community Council, said that, because of community complaints about trucks parked on the street nearby, the businesses at the Terminal Market, while contending that they have no connection to most of the trucks that are illegally parked, had purchased two truck boots that they are “going to donate to the Community Council.
“We’re going to give them to the captain to use in our precinct,” Salogub went on, noting that, at this point, they are just waiting for the boots to be shipped to Brooklyn.
