Southeast Queens residents say parked trucks are multiplying on neighborhood streets
Residents in parts of Queens say their neighborhood streets are being treated like a parking lot for trucks, with trash accumulating among commercial vehicles left on the roadside.
It's happening in Brookville, Rosedale and Springfield Gardens.
Trucks, trailer park on streets for days, residents say
William McDonald has lived in Springfield Gardens for decades. He says the truck problem has gotten out of control in the last two years.
"You might have found before two, three trucks," he said. "But now, they got the whole block."
McDonald, who is president of the Springfield Gardens Civic Association, says streets along Springfield Park have come to resemble a tractor-trailer parking lot.
He sees the same issue in other neighborhoods near John F. Kennedy International Airport, including Brookville and Rosedale – trucks and detached trailers left by the roadside for days on end, despite a three-hour limit for commercial vehicle parking. And with the trucks, he says, comes trash.
"They just use this as a garbage disposal," he said.
The New York City Department of Sanitation told CBS News New York:
"Many of these areas are known illegal dumping locations that we routinely monitor, enforce and clean. Those who treat public lands here as their dumping grounds should know that we have significantly stepped up illegal dumping surveillance citywide in the last two years, with a network of more than 300 cameras positioned in known hotspots to catch illegal dumpers. Summonses for illegal dumping start at $4,000, with the cost of cleaning up the mess also passed along to the dumper. We also impound the vehicles involved. Crooks who are dumping trash here are on notice: If you dump on our neighborhoods, we will catch you, we will impound your vehicle, and you will pay."
As for illegal dumping on park property, the Department of Parks and Recreation told CBS News New York that new penalties will raise fines from $1,000 to $5,000 for the first offense, adding in a statement:
"Illegal dumping is a challenge in every borough of New York City and NYC Parks uses a great amount of staff time to address and correct these conditions. These impacts on our park system are unfortunate and we urge New Yorkers to refrain from illegally dumping trash in their parks."
Insufficient parking for trucks at JFK an issue, officials say
But the trucks may point to another issue: insufficient onsite parking for vehicles carrying cargo to Kennedy Airport.
"I think that once they finish, they leave their trucks here," McDonald said.
The Port Authority agrees, acknowledging that increased cargo volume to the airport in the past several years has resulted in more commercial vehicles left on community streets.
As JFK undergoes its $19 billion overhaul, the Port Authority says it will triple the existing space for truck parking to make room for a total of 150 trucks.
In the meantime, the NYPD told CBS News New York the 116th Precinct issued 124 parking summonses between Dec. 19 and March 5.
State Senator James Sanders Jr. says it takes a village.
"They say that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and the price of our nature is that we must be eternally vigilant," he said. "So we need to report, report, report."
McDonald says the mess sets a troubling precedent.
"I think the community deserves better," he said.
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