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With FDNY vandalism, parking wars get ridiculous (commentary)
TO SEE VIDEO:
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Anything associated with our motor vehicles can be enough to get Staten Islanders riled up.
Including parking.
But when anger over parking leads to vandalism, as has happened with some vehicles belonging to FDNY members, something has gone terribly wrong.
The incident touches on a lot of parking issues that get the blood boiling.
For instance: That piece of the street in front of our homes doesn't belong to us. It's not our personal parking space. We should have no expectation that that spot will be available to us 24/7/365.
Still, it's hard to contain the anger when those spots get taken, particularly if they get taken by people who don't actually live on the block. Or who live several doors away from the location of the spot.
We had months of personal tsuris, for example, when someone abandoned a car in the spot in front of our house.
If you're street is like mine, you have an unspoken agreement with your neighbors that the spot in front of their home belongs to them and you don't park there if you can help it. This is particularly true if your neighbor has dug out the spot following a snowstorm.
So it's no surprise that the folks who live in the area of Engine Co. 165/Ladder Co. 85 in New Dorp got irked when firefighters from that house on Richmond Road parked on some of the surrounding streets, taking up spots in front of private residences.
The firehouse, you see, has parking for just four vehicles. This at a firehouse where a dozen people could be working on any given shift.
Those neighborhood complaints in mind, the firefighters took to parking on a sidewalk on Beacon Avenue, which runs alongside the firehouse. It's not an ideal solution. The parked vehicles force people using the sidewalk to step into the street. You can easily imagine the difficulty this could cause someone pushing a baby in a stroller, for example. It's not safe.
It also made some of us think about the abuse of parking privileges that takes place in the municipal heart of St. George, where vehicles belonging to law enforcement and court personnel block fire hydrants, take up metered parking spaces all day long and otherwise completely ignore parking laws.
But at least there are parking lots and garages in St. George. Those who work in the area could use those. The firefighters in New Dorp have no such option. They need to go to work. They need a place to park. Just like the rest of us do when we go to work.
Somebody doesn't seem to understand that, because the tires on four cars belonging to firefighters and parked on Beacon were slashed late on Thursday night.
So this is the message: Don't park on our streets. And don't park on the sidewalk.
We all understand parking angst, but nobody should take matters into their own hands like this, particularly when it comes to targeting the people you're going to call when your house goes on fire.
What's the solution? The firefighters have to park somewhere. Maybe we need to spend some capital dollars and build them a couple of additional on-site spots. Start lobbying the City Council and the mayor's office.
Or maybe folks in the neighborhood need to be a little more tolerant when they find a firefighter's vehicle parked on their block.
Either way, put the blades away.
Including parking.
But when anger over parking leads to vandalism, as has happened with some vehicles belonging to FDNY members, something has gone terribly wrong.
The incident touches on a lot of parking issues that get the blood boiling.
For instance: That piece of the street in front of our homes doesn't belong to us. It's not our personal parking space. We should have no expectation that that spot will be available to us 24/7/365.
Still, it's hard to contain the anger when those spots get taken, particularly if they get taken by people who don't actually live on the block. Or who live several doors away from the location of the spot.
We had months of personal tsuris, for example, when someone abandoned a car in the spot in front of our house.
If you're street is like mine, you have an unspoken agreement with your neighbors that the spot in front of their home belongs to them and you don't park there if you can help it. This is particularly true if your neighbor has dug out the spot following a snowstorm.
So it's no surprise that the folks who live in the area of Engine Co. 165/Ladder Co. 85 in New Dorp got irked when firefighters from that house on Richmond Road parked on some of the surrounding streets, taking up spots in front of private residences.
The firehouse, you see, has parking for just four vehicles. This at a firehouse where a dozen people could be working on any given shift.
Those neighborhood complaints in mind, the firefighters took to parking on a sidewalk on Beacon Avenue, which runs alongside the firehouse. It's not an ideal solution. The parked vehicles force people using the sidewalk to step into the street. You can easily imagine the difficulty this could cause someone pushing a baby in a stroller, for example. It's not safe.
It also made some of us think about the abuse of parking privileges that takes place in the municipal heart of St. George, where vehicles belonging to law enforcement and court personnel block fire hydrants, take up metered parking spaces all day long and otherwise completely ignore parking laws.
But at least there are parking lots and garages in St. George. Those who work in the area could use those. The firefighters in New Dorp have no such option. They need to go to work. They need a place to park. Just like the rest of us do when we go to work.
Somebody doesn't seem to understand that, because the tires on four cars belonging to firefighters and parked on Beacon were slashed late on Thursday night.
So this is the message: Don't park on our streets. And don't park on the sidewalk.
We all understand parking angst, but nobody should take matters into their own hands like this, particularly when it comes to targeting the people you're going to call when your house goes on fire.
What's the solution? The firefighters have to park somewhere. Maybe we need to spend some capital dollars and build them a couple of additional on-site spots. Start lobbying the City Council and the mayor's office.
Or maybe folks in the neighborhood need to be a little more tolerant when they find a firefighter's vehicle parked on their block.
Either way, put the blades away.
73 comments
Don't forget the designers of these new neighborhoods who do not properly plan parking for people.
Put a Bagel Store or Pizzeria or Nail Parlor or Tanning Salon on adjacent property of Firehouse, watch the true Staten islanders emerge...
We don't know for sure that the vandalism is related to the parking controversy. It likely is but it could also be the work of drunk kids, disgruntled ex employee, ex wife/girlfriend, bad business relationship. Before chastising the neighbors it would be good to know who actually did the vandalism.
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