Civic leaders blast parking plan
CB18 shoots down Marine Park car dealer’s proposal at hostile meeting
BRINGING WORLD-CLASS PERFORMANCES HOME
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Their parking plan has
stalled.
Tensions fl ared as local
civic gurus shot down a Marine
Park car dealer’s controversial
parking plan on April
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17.
Community Board 18 unanimously
rejected Plaza Auto
Mall’s application for a special
permit that would allow the
dealer to store cars on the roof
of its new Nostrand Avenue
building, after a heated discussion
between dealership
reps and community leaders.
“What has happened here,
is that like tentacles, Plaza
has reached around and it is
strangling our community,”
said former State Sen. Carl
Kruger.
Kruger, who represented
the area before resigning after
pleading guilty to a felony
bribery scandal, complained
that the auto shop, which operates
several storefronts between
Avenues M and N, has
caused a variety of problems
in the community over the
last several months related to
ever-increasing footprint in
the neighborhood.
“You have cars parked all
over the place, it’s a disaster,”
he said. “Why aren’t you looking
for a bigger facility to meet
all of your needs? Why aren’t
you looking to have less cars in
the area, not more cars? Why
aren’t you getting the cars off
of the sidewalk and out of the
area, so that handicap people
can walk on the street? Why
aren’t you creating a safe environment
for us to live in?”
An attorney with the auto
dealer said the rooftop car
space was necessary to provide
adequate customer parking
space.
“We are trying to build a
parking area, where a valet
will take people’s cars up to
the roof, to make the area on
the street less crowded,” said
Eric Palatnick. “And, the parking
area will be surrounded
by trees, so you won’t even see
a trace of the parking lot.”
Kruger blasted the plan,
accusing the dealer of trying
to create additional space to
store cars to be sold, rather
than create more customer
parking.
“What you are doing is trying
to make a fool out of us,” he
said. “You’re trying to come
here to fi gure out a way to
store more cars, build a taller
building, and inundate the
neighborhood with a higher
wall. And you think you’re going
to come here and buy us
off with some shrubbery.”
Plaza Auto Mall had previously
stored some cars in the
parking lot Kings Plaza shopping
mall, until an arsonist
set fi re to the garage last September.
Another civic leader questioned
the legitimacy of Palatnick’s
valet parking rhetoric
and argued the plan would
have an unpleasant effect on
the community.
“It sounds to me like they
are looking for another space
to pour more cars,” said Marine
Park Civic Association
President Bob Tracey. “Our
concern is with the community.
You need to get the community
on board. First comes
the neighborhood, then comes
business.”
The dealership has fi led a
petition with the City Board of
Standards & Appeals to overrule
the community board, according
to Appeals Examiner
Toni Matias.
Kruger demanded that the
auto shop stop its efforts, and
seek other space in a different
location.
“There seems to be a disconnect
between our community
and that dealership,” he
said. “You can’t keep squeezing
10 pounds of you-knowwhat
into a fi ve-pound bag.”
PARKED: Locals complain Plaza Auto Mall has outgrown their Marine
Park home. Google Maps
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