Correct signage has been re-installed on Pennyfield Avenue after recent concern by local residents.
The retaining wall on Pennyfield Avenue near SUNY Maritime College is a designated ‘No Standing’ zone by the city Department of Transportation. However, after the wall was reconstructed nearly five years ago, the signs were never replaced.
Ernest Nargi, resident of the Pennyfield Estates directly across the street and president of the Pennyfield Alliance, recently expressed concern over cars parked along the retaining walls.
According to Nargi, people would leave their cars along the wall and would never receive parking summonses because the signs were not posted. Another issue as a result of the parking, he said, is that parkers would leave garbage, drink alcohol, and hang out throughout the night.
“I understand that people want to come down here on a hot summer night and catch a cool breeze from the water, but a lot of times these people were here until the early hours of the morning,” Nargi said. “I didn’t move to this location to be bothered by noise in the middle of the night. These signs had to be replaced and people have to stop parking here.”
Nargi quickly notified Councilman Jimmy Vacca about the issue. After visiting the site, Vacca quickly notified DOT and the 45th Precinct about cars who continued to park along the wall.
DOT was quick to respond, reinstalling the signs along the wall on Wednesday, October 19.
Vacca was glad the issue was resolved and recalled that the signage was in fact placed along the wall prior to its reconstruction.
“It’s something that I had known already. Local residents knew that this was a no parking area, but I guess it was never noticed that the signs were not put back up after the wall was replaced,” Vacca said. “The area needs to be strictly enforced as a no standing area. The precinct has been made aware and they will certainly be monitoring the area.”
As of Monday, October 24, cars continued to park alongside the wall, however, traffic enforcement has issued summonses on a daily basis.
Nargi and other residents are pleased that the signs have been re-installed, but he believes the real test will be whether or not the late night hanging out continues when the weather gets warm again next year.
“It’s disgusting what these people do sometimes. It’s bad enough that they leave garbage everywhere, but I have seen them urinating on our private property,” Nargi said.
