Community Board 6, representing the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Red Hook and the Columbia Street Waterfront, passed a resolution advocating for the New York City Department of Transportation to be responsible for handing out parking tickets instead of the NYPD.
Tony Melone, co-chair of the Community Board 6’s Transportation Committee, says the idea is nothing new.
“The Department of Transportation used to be responsible for issuing parking violations going back to 1996,” said Melone.
Double-parked cars and vehicles blocking crosswalks are just some of the issues Melone says people in the community deal with.
“You know, I’ve seen right when kids get out of school, a car parked entirely blocking the crosswalk or a delivery truck doing that as well. And then the kids have to walk out into traffic to get across,” said Melone.
Melone says the change over to the NYC DOT would not only crack down on the illegally parked vehicles, but would also be a chance to rework the system.
“They have other things in their toolbox, aside from just issuing parking tickets. And I think that that would be an opportunity to use some of those tools to really solve these problems once and for all,” said Melone.
The resolution was passed last week. The next step is for it to go in front of the full board for them to vote on it next month. After that, Melone says they will ask for elected officials’ support in hopes they can bring it up in the City Council or the mayor’s office.
News 12 reached out to the NYPD and the NYC DOT for comment, but has not yet heard back.