The Flatlands Flatbush Civic Group (FFCG) gathered for their monthly Zoom meeting on Thursday, April 21st, seeking solutions to longstanding vehicular issues and what they got was a swift response from the NYPD 63rd Precinct.
A major issue that has persisted for about six years for the group of about two dozen attendees has been that of mechanics working on cars and also parking them all over their neighborhood. They park by East 43rd Street and Avenue H, and on a half of the dead-end block of Troy Avenue, which is filled with cars.
“I’ve been bringing it up to the police for a long time and we’re not getting traction,” FFCG Chief of Staff Troy Thompson said to the 63rd Precinct NCO Jonathan Perez. “At one point, I was getting cars moved and now I’m not getting any moved.”
He added that he was at his wits’ ends and was tired of sounding like a broken record because more had to be done so that the problem doesn’t keep repeating. Members of the group were in favor of increased pressure and enforcement on the owner of the operation because of the dangerous situation he is creating.
“We need you to go and talk to the mechanics and to tell them to stop putting those cars out there,” Thompson said. “The bus got to go around triple parked cars to get around during the day, from 7 o’clock all the way to 7 at night…Are we going to wait for an accident to happen and then say something is wrong when somebody gets killed?”
Perez said he was going to do some patrols and an operation the next day to get some cars out, and he kept his word. Two days later, the precinct put out a Facebook post, with several pictures, that stated: “Our Neighborhood Coordination Officers from Sectors A, C, & D worked together to tow 17…yes 17 illegally parked trucks & cars in one operation to address community concerns in #Brooklyn. Great job!”
Thompson also told Perez that the group has been fighting for a traffic light for over 27 years. From Albany Avenue all the way to Schenectady Avenue, there is no light around the East 43rd or East 45th Street areas. They wanted at least one light by Troy Avenue and Avenue H, but they were told that there’s not enough traffic after 7 p.m. to warrant it.
FFCG President Sallie Bennett said that if you are driving down Avenue K, there are traffic lights and wherever it’s not excessive, there are stop signs at every block.
“I don’t know what the problem is as far as giving us what we need on Avenue H,” said Bennett. “If you’re not going to give us a traffic light, at least give us stop signs and that will slow down some of the problems that we have.”
FFCG meets every third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. by RSVP to FFcivic@gmail.com or calling 929-322-4842.