A trucking machinery company has caused numerous disturbances and inconveniences on Brush Avenue, neighbors say.
HO Penn, a caterpillar equipment dealer and leaser located at 699 Brush Avenue, has caused multiple issues, its neighbors claim.
Brush Avenue, already the site of multiple retail stores along with HO Penn, has become overcrowded with trucks loading and unloading products, making it very hard for local traffic to maneuver on the skinny street.
Residents lauded its other neighbors: UPS, Home Depot, Cablevision and Target for complying with M1-1 district regulations.
According to NYC.gov, M1-1, M1-2 and M1-3 districts are subject to parking requirements based on the type of use and size of an establishment and requirements for loading berths of specified dimensions differ according to district, size and type of use.
Residents living along Brush Avenue are angry that HO Penn is not following these regulations. The neighbors allege that they have not contained their business on site. While repairing trucks and tandem buses that are very often double-parked, the firm causes disturbances at night by not buffering the noise or the lights, and have allowed their employees to park on the street instead of in the parking lot, they claim.
“This has been an ongoing problem for many years,” said Throggs Neck resident Dotti Poggi, who has lived on the partially paved Brush Avenue even before HO Penn moved there in 1976. “I was living here when there were trees on the side of the street, which have since been removed – more than likely to create more room for large vehicles.”
Poggi has many questions regarding this situation.
“Where are the “No Idling” signs on the street? How will cars avoid head on collisions when a double bus or truck is double-parked? How will cars avoid crashing after driving past a blind turn at the same time that a truck is backing up after missing its delivery area?”
HO Penn actually received a permit and constructed an area in the back of the building to accept all deliveries and pickups. However, it was never used and they have continued to tow their customers’ vehicles on Brush Avenue.
“It’s become a dangerous scenario, jeopardizing the safety of drivers and especially the quality of life that the residents of our neighborhood deserve.”
According to Poggi, Brush’s Avenue’s isolation from the rest of Throggs Neck has been one of the reasons that this issue has dragged on so long and continues to get worse.
“As a community of Throggs Neck we should not have to put up with such a dangerous situation and we want some kind of solution seriously considered. It’s possible that HO Penn has outgrown this site and should relocate to a more appropiate area where it can pull its large heavy equipment off a properly constructed road designed to handle such heavy equipement.”
