A number of Bedford Park residents are extremely frustrated that their Superbowl Sunday was disrupted due to having to move their cars amid heavy snow on Sunday night, Feb. 9, to facilitate filming in their neighborhood this week of the new Paramount+ “Dexter” show.

 

“No Parking” notices were seen on East 204th Street, East 205th Street, and along Lisbon Place between East Mosholu Parkway South and the Grand Concourse from at least Thursday, Feb. 6, prohibiting parking from Monday, Feb. 10, through Wednesday, Feb. 12. Though photos of the signs were shared on social media by Norwood News last week, several car owners were angry and upset that not only was their Superbowl Sunday disrupted, but they continue to be inconvenienced from a parking perspective for three full days while DXO East Productions LLC [based in Yonkers] films the show.

 

On Sunday evening, we spoke to Lucas, who was moving his car from East 205th Street towards the Grand Concourse area. “I’m very p**** off!” he said. “I live here my whole life. I pay a lot of rent, like $2,000 rent on 205th and he’s [a neighbor] telling me I can’t park my car here. They will take my car. It’s messed up, Bro. I’m a good civilian. I pick up all the trash that’s on the floor.”

A friend of Lucas was on the phone when we spoke to him and was also upset. Lucas put his friend on speaker and he said, “I’m p**** off! I live here for [three/ten?] years. It’s Superbowl Sunday and I had to get in my car [and move it] because I can’t park my car [at home]. I’m p**** off!” Lucas later added, “Yeah, so I don’t know where I’m going to put my car. I’m a member of this community.” Asked if he had seen the signs about the film production ahead of time, he said, “No, I didn’t. They just put it up.”

 

We also spoke to Juan, another resident of East 205th Street who was busy clearing snow from his vehicle before moving it and who said he also owned what looked like a storage vehicle parked on the same street which also had to be moved. “This was short notice,” he said. “The signs were just put up on Wednesday, so we didn’t even get notice quick enough, so this is just abuse for people that have been living here for years, not even a courtesy notice ahead of time.”

 

He continued, “And they tell us if you don’t move your cars, the cars are going to be towed. Like, there’s people with babies here! There are females with babies and they don’t even know what to do right now, because if they have to get to their cars, especially if you park out any further where there’s cars being broken into, they’re [the production crew] not going to pay for any of those damages!”

 

Juan added, ‘So, it’s abuse for us that live here. I’ve been living here already, I think, maybe more than 20 years. So, it’s bad for us. For them, it’s nothing. It’s money in the pocket for them.”

The same evening we spoke to another male resident on East 205th Street who declined to be identified and who had just moved his car from the street. He said, “I think it’s very inconvenient because not everybody can afford to park at the parking lot. So, like looking forward to parking in your neighborhood is what everybody looks forward to.”

 

He continued, “So now, you forcing everybody’s hand to either put their cars somewhere where they don’t want to park, or [they] might have to get a lot, and sometimes that’s not guaranteed, because they be full, so yeah.” We asked the resident where he parked his car and he said, “I parked on the [Grand] Concourse illegally, because I’m kind of tired of like looking for parking. I want to go home. I’m tired so it’s like I’m just going to take the risk.” Of parking on the Grand Concourse, he added, “You can’t park there; I think you can even probably get towed.” Another resident mentioned that trucks apparently could park overnight on the Concourse.

 

We also spoke to another East 205th Street resident, Carmen, who said, “You know, you add insult to injury because for the past three years, we’ve had issues parking with all the construction which, still, they haven’t finished, but it’s more passable because now the trucks are gone and you’re able to park,” she said. Construction has been taking place on East 205th for at least a year as new apartment buildings go up.

Carmen added, “But now, for the next four days, we have to struggle again. They don’t care about the community. It was bad before. Now, it’s even worse because no one can park, so we had to leave by 10 [p.m.]. Otherwise, our car would get towed and I have a grandchild. You know what it is to walk in the snow with a 3-year-old, and I can’t, you know, carry at my age, 65, right? It’s not fair to me. They have no regards to the community because, according to what I understood and heard, the City gave them the permit.”

 

She added, “So, someone’s getting money, and no one’s saying, ‘Hey, let’s accommodate the community, because where are they going to park?’ I’m ready to go to Yonkers to sleep in my daughter’s house but it’s inconvenient. The City did not think about the community when they should [have]. My building alone has 72 apartments.”

 

Carmen continued, “It’s already bad enough. Even the community board (Bronx Community Board 7), they know how difficult parking is around here. I’m going to say for the past three to four years, we have had an issue with parking and then on top of that, they come and they do this. It’s really bad. I mean, I don’t know. They don’t care, and not for nothing, we all pay high rents.”

 

She added, “It’s just wrong for the City to do that. They’re not respecting us, and we pay rent, bottom line.” Carmen said alternate side parking operates on East 205th Street [though it’s currently suspended due to the snow thru Tuesday, Feb. 10]. “Because of all these [new] buildings, the parking is getting more difficult every time, because each household owns at least one parking,” she said. “My block alone has 72 apartments or 100 apartments; that’s 100 more cars.” She estimated that around 280 residents were affected in the area.

Gesturing to the local vicinity, she said, “Can you fit 288 in this? Not at all. That was another thing. They just, again, no regards to the community or how we live, they just decided to put up buildings and didn’t say nothing; it’s wrong. This used to be a beautiful community. It used to be all private houses and they came in, they bought out these homeowners and decided to do buildings. It’s sad.”

 

We also spoke to Rigo and Angel who said they were not residents of the area but were parked on East Mosholu Parkway South close to Van Cortlandt Avenue. They said they hadn’t seen the signs about the filming affixed to the nearby poles and were just about to leave anyway. Speaking in Spanish and seemingly joking, Rigo said, “If they need actors, we can act in the film as well if they need it.” Angel added, “Yes, of course.”

 

Asked if they were indeed actors, Rigo said, “Yes, everything, everything, and I live in The Bronx so whatever they need…it’s okay.” Getting more serious, he then said, “We’re in The Bronx where the parking is uncomfortable so when they take away parking, you know, for two or three days around here, it’s going to bother them [the impacted residents].” One of the two then added, “I think they should pay if it’s for a film. It’s a problem that they do it in the area.”

 

We spoke to another young, male resident who declined to be identified, who lives on the corner of East Mosholu Parkway South and Van Cortlandt Avenue, who said he had just moved his car two blocks over in the direction of Jerome Avenue. “I’m not going to be able to use it though because I’m not going to have parking,” he said.

Asked if he had to carry small children out of his apartment and into his car, he said, “Yeah, sometimes.” Asked if the situation was inconvenient for him therefore, he said, “Yeah, no, I have to walk, especially with the snow…”

 

We also spoke to another driver seated in a car on East 204th Street and East Mosholu Parkway South who said he didn’t live in the area and was delivering a pizza to a nearby building. Asked if he had any comment on the parking situation, he said it did appear to be inconvenient for residents, especially given the snowstorm. Another resident who was not a driver who was entering a store on East 204th Street on Sunday night said of the situation, “There’s no parking [even without the film production] and they got these damn Citibikes all over the place that nobody uses!”

 

Norwood News texted “Matt” at the number provided on the “no parking” notices for DXO East Productions LLC, and asked for comment. We did not receive an immediate response. We also called a separate number for the compay and asked if we could speak to the media department for a comment on the parking complaints. A female representative said, “I’m sorry. I’m not part of that department.” Asked if they could share an email contact for the department in question, the woman said, “I don’t think so, thank you.”

 

We also spoke to one crew member on Sunday evening who declined to be identified and who sympathized with residents, adding that the parking issue was not usually such a problem in Manhattan but acknowledged it was an inconvenience for residents of The Bronx. We also spoke to another member of the crew on East 205th Street on Monday who was parked in his Florida-registered car. He was also sympathetic but said we should continue to try to reach “Matt” for comment.

 

Many cars parked in the area on Monday were seen with out-of-state plates. At least two drivers were seen sleeping in their cars. Several large trucks, including catering trucks and equipment, were also seen in the area on Monday. Some of the “No Parking” signs were later seen in trash cans on the Grand Concourse, while others remained affixed to the poles. It’s unclear who removed them.

 

We also reached out to the Mayor’s Office and to Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) for comment on the residents’ complaints. Bronx CB7 said the signs were up since early last week to advise residents. They added that they forwarded the various complaints we shared with them (from residents) to various City agencies. On Wednesday, we received the following response from the Mayor’s Office.

 

““The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment has rules in place for each production we permit to shoot on NYC public property, to mitigate the inconvenience imposed on communities during filming, which includes advanced warning of film shoots,” the statement read. “We are aware of the hardships this particular shoot created due to the weather and we will continue to find ways to balance the needs of local communities while supporting film/TV production in NYC, an industry responsible for employing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. We are working with the production involved in this shoot on ways to give back to the community and thank the neighborhood for working with them.”