Photo courtesy Nat Salomon
Van Cortlandt Village residents are getting their spots back!
After months of illegal parking on Goulden Avenue by commercial vehicles for a litany of reasons, a major crackdown by the 52nd Precinct at the behest of electeds saw plenty of those vehicles not come back.
The stretch on Goulden Avenue between West 197th Street and Sedgwick Avenue is close to Van Cortlandt Village’s heavy residential population, making those spots a premium. When a major, monthslong Con Edison project on Sedgwick Avenue saw a number of spots reserved exclusively for work trucks, it squeezed parking even more.
“Parking is one of the most contentious issues that I hear about from my constituents,” said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, the area’s legislator who urged the Five-Two to issue a crackdown. “There is hardly enough parking for the people who live in our community, let alone for commercial enterprises who just want to save a couple bucks on their parking expenses.”
Councilman Andrew Cohen, who represents the area where the infractions happened, called the problem “consistent and alarming.”
On top of the squeeze, residents noticed plenty of abandoned cars left behind on Goulden Avenue. Among them was an RV that took up at least two and a half spots. Combined that with the other taxicabs, truck cabs and other motorhomes, and residents were left with very few options.
Despite an aggressive ticketing blitz by the 52nd Precinct cars were still left behind. Commercial vehicles simply shrugged at the number of summonses.
So the Five-Two went with plan B: towing. After towing three vehicles and doling out 95 tickets since January, residents have noticed more available spots along the stretch. The precinct has since been patrolling the area to ensure those spots are free for residents.
“The NYPD’s repeated efforts have given our streets back to the community,” said Cohen in a statement.
The Office of Senator Jeff Klein also assisted.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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Hopefully they do the same thing on Jerome Ave . Cars with no plates and signs for sale are taking our spots every day. they get no tickets.but if we park close to the hydrant or double park to get grocery into the building they ticket you right away. then need to walk 3 and 4 blocks back home 🙁 People come, take 2 parking space and then move to give friends parking spot when they come around. Something have to be done.
Now if they could help us poor tenants around 208th n kosouth. We have to go around and around and around 10 times before we find a parking. Too too many restrictions.
Norwood residents and visitors have struggled with parking for decades. I find it has gotten more and more difficult the last few years. On a daily basis, I find that there are far too many taxi cars parked on the residential streets heading up and down perry, hull, and decatur avenues. This leaves very little parking for residents to park their cars in the evening. I used to circled around the neighborhood for roughly and hour every day around 530-630 to find a parking spot when I would get home. When can we do something about that?
What needed is more Municipal parking in this area of Norwood now that all these new building are going up in this area.