You can hide your car in a garage, but you can’t hide your garage in your house.
It’s a simple lesson that Boerum Hill resident May Mosholu has learned the hard way — with three orders from the city to stop building, one mysterious incident of vandalism and plenty of angry stares from neighbors now that she’s removed the construction fence that had long shrouded her undercover garage.
“I always knew the garage was in there behind the fences,” said neighbor Grant Pezeshki, “but when I finally saw it, I was bothered.”
And he wasn’t the only one.
Garages mean curb cuts and curb cuts mean the loss of a valuable parking space for all the other drivers who don’t have their own lot.
“The competition for parking is more and more acute on a daily basis and the more curb cuts there are, the harder it gets,” said Jo Anne Simon, a Democratic district leader and Boerum Hill resident.
“So, it’s not about someone else having a parking space and not us, but the larger combination of issues. The garage is illegal and you are taking away legal spaces to put it there.”
The neighbors aren’t the only people complaining about the cut, and the short driveway leading to Moshulu’s secret garage. The Department of Buildings hit her with a violation, citing the zoning code that forbids curb cuts on properties its size.
Mosholu did not return phone calls from The Brooklyn Paper.
Buildings officials said this week that she remains in violation of code and has “10 days to provide the Department with plans to bring the property into compliance with the zoning regulations.
“Violations will continue to be issued until they comply,” said Kate Linquist, a DOB spokesperson.
Stay tuned.
