The U.S. Department of Justice has demanded that the NYPD stop allowing its officers to park illegally around stationhouses because the resulting obstructions are a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act — and the feds told the NYPD that the Civil Rights Division will sue if the NYPD doesn’t clean up its act.
“In the event we determine that we cannot secure compliance voluntarily to correct the deficiencies identified in this letter, the Attorney General may initiate a lawsuit pursuant to the ADA,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Damian Williams wrote in a March 29 letter that was released on Friday. Read more from Streetsblog
In January 2021 Chekpeds worked with Manhattan Community Board 4 and its residents to obtain that 50% of cars parked in angled parking be either removed or converted to parallel parking. When reading our analysis of the capacity, the precinct was surprised by how few additional spaces would be needed.
We should all be ready to support additional dedicated parking so that this practice can be eliminated. The choice between taking sidewalk space from pedestrians and taking a few parking spaces from local drivers should be easy. This will be transformational for those streets: tree planting in particular will be a huge benefit to the population and will enhance NYPD relationships with the community.