www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY March 24, 2019 14
Illegal overnight 18-wheeler parking returns again
Tractor-trailer trucks parking along the boundary of Pelham Bay Park obscure views from inside the park of Bruckner Boulevard, as seen here, and sightlines into the park from the
service road. Photo courtesy of Eddie Malave
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
Community Board
10’s unoffi cial truck stop
is back.
Area residents concerned
about safe travel
along I-95 again raised
their ire over the dozen
18-wheelers and large
trucks illegally parked
over the weekend of Saturday
March 16 and Sunday,
March 17 on Bruckner
Boulevard alongside
Pelham Bay Park.
Bruckner Boulevard
between Middletown
Road and Wilkinson Avenue
has been turned into
an unoffi cial truck stop at
times, with truckers parking
their rigs and trailers
overnight and sometimes
for days on end, the residents
have said.
Councilman Mark
Gjonaj said that he was
alerted to the situation,
and in response asked the
NYPD to ticket illegally
parked trucks.
“We are going to stay
on top of this problem
with law enforcement,”
said Gjonaj.
About 11 illegally
parked commercial
trucks were observed
adjacent to Pelham Bay
Park last weekend, said
George Havranek, Spencer
Estate Civic Association
vice president.
Matt Cruz, CB 10 district
manager, said it is
a parking violation for
commercial trucks to
park on any street in the
board service area after
9 p.m., and urged the public
to report the offenders
to his offi ce or 311.
“Not a day goes by
when this offi ce is not
contacting the precinct to
ticket (illegally parked)
tractor trailers, and for
the most part, the precinct
has been great in
getting to it,” said Cruz.
The district manager
said there are federal
regulations that restrict
the number of hours
truckers can drive in one
day, and that this may be
contributing to the problem.
However he knows,
as does Havranek, that
many trucks are being
stored on the street by
truckers that live in the
area.
Havranek said it is a
long-standing issue that
seems to fl are up on weekends
in locations where
it’s easy to get on and off
the interstate highways.
“It is a storage issue. It
is not that we are trying
to prevent truckers from
getting (their required)
rest, and no one really
wants to be punitive with
them,” said Havranek.
He added that the illegal
parking on the Bruckner
service road seems
to take place in every
season except when the
park is being used - in
the summer, and usually
fl ares up from Thursdays
to Tuesdays.
“There are certain
things in certain areas
that just don’t mix, and
this is one of them,” he
said.
Eddie Malave of Country
Club said that he noticed
about a dozen trucks
over the weekend when he
walked his dog through
Pelham Bay Park, and
said that his neighbors
contacted the precinct
and urged a ticket blitz.
“A sector car needs to
come by after 9 p.m. and
issue them tickets,” he
said.
Malave said that he
believes that the trucks
are from truckers who
live nearby, and also included
the service road
at Mac Donough and Connell
places as a location
where the activity was
also occurring.
At Connell Place specifi
cally, a municipal garbage
truck with New Jersey
plates was parked for
weeks, he said.
The Country Club
Civic Association’s president,
Arlene Grauer,
said that homeowners
nearby, especially those
on Kearney Avenue, are
having to contend with
large trucks stored for
days just beyond their
backyards.
The weekend of Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17 saw as many as 11 18-wheeler tractor-trailer trucks park along the Bruckner Boulevard service road next to Pelham Bay Park.
Photo courtesy of Eddie Malave
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