19 summonses issued to naughty trucks

Captain Green of the 45th Precinct is wasting no time in ticketing trucks parked illegally on residential streets. The problem has plagued Throggs Neck for decades, residents say.

Green supervised officers from the 45th Precinct as they issued 19 violations to illegally parked tractor trailer trucks near St. Raymond Cemetery on the Cross Bronx Expressway service road and Lafayette Avenue on the evening of Wednesday, September 15 and the morning of Thursday, September 16. One of the trucks was even booted in the process.

The move comes on the heels of Governor Paterson signing into law an increase in fines for illegally parked trucks in residential neighborhoods in the city, raising the fines for a first offense from $50 to $250.

The legislation was sponsored by Senator Jeff Klein and Assemblyman Michael Benedetto. Councilman Jimmy Vacca, who convinced the city council to approve the change, was on hand as the summonses were issued and a truck was booted.

“I want to thank Captain Green for taking action, because we have wanted to tackle this issue with tractor trailer trucks parked illegally on our streets for a long time,” Vacca said. “Wherever we have tractor trailer trucks parked on the street at night, we find garbage the next morning.”

Vacca said that large tractor trailer trucks parked on residential streets often block visibility, and residents cannot see to the end of their driveways or pull away from the curb safely.

“Service roads of highways cannot be parking lots,” Vacca said. “Captain Green was fantastic in mobilizing all the resources necessary for this terrific joint effort.”

At the Community Board 10 general meeting on Thursday, September 16, district manager Kenneth Kearns said that he will work to get more boots for tractor trailer trucks parked illegally.

The vice president of the 45th Precinct Community Council, Robert Bieder, said that he was happy to see a precinct captain that was finally ready to take action on this issue.

“The precinct is going to be taking an aggressive stance on this,” Bieder said. “We finally have a captain who is willing to aggressively go after this, and I just don’t know why for many years it was so hard to get a tow truck to deal with this problem. The tickets unfortunately was less than it costs to legally park their trucks. But when we start booting or towing trucks, they are going to pay attention because it stops them from working and it becomes much more expensive.”

Lynn Gerbino, president of the Throggs Neck Home Owners Association, said that her organization has been concerned about several hot spots where tractor trailer trucks have parked illegally over the years. She hopes that this towing and booting will curtail the practice of trucks parked illegally on city streets.

“I am very happy because these trucks have used our streets for years as a parking lot, and have continued to do so even after they were warned,” Gerbino said.

“We continue to get complaints about this issue, and I’m sure that our members will be thrilled.”