Monday, October 19, 2009

Curbstones and Parking

A comment from Lynn Klein Riotto which deserves its own "front page" posting:


Tony and I stayed at the meeting until the bitter end. We did discuss the deplorable condition of the curbstones. I suggested that the town should have done a better job supervising the work done by the outside contractor. I spoke of my experience this summer walking on the lower portion of Mercer Avenue between Findlay and Charlotte where I encountered the roadway crumbling under my feet. Two days later, in the aftermath of Hurricane Bill, the street actually buckled in the very same location. The roadway beds in Manor Woods are being compromised by water seeping under the unfinished curbstones. With winter setting in, this situation can only get far worse. This was a case of the Town being penny wise and pound foolish in choosing a contractor who did not do a thorough job. We will now first have to do an expensive repair job to remedy the problems caused by the shoddy work. Wasted tax dollars. I promised Paul Feiner an email describing the situation with photos and followed up the very same evening. I received a reply from Paul the next morning with a copy to the Commissioner of Public Works, Victor Carosi. Mr. Corosi emailed me earlier this evening saying he will look into our concerns. Tony and I had offered to accompany Mr. Corosi on a tour of the neighborhood but apparently, he is planning to send out an inspector and not planning to include us. More Town run-around?

Meantime, I also go an email earlier from Chief Kapica with petition forms to be signed by the neighbors requesting the Town install parking signs restricting the parking on all the streets in Manor Woods. Attached is a copy of his email. Please let me know if there are enough neighbors willing to sign this before I go out door to door. I am happy to organize the petition drive if this is what everyone would like.

"As discussed at our recent meeting on October 15th, attached is a copy of a generic petition that can be used to request that parking restrictions be enacted on any street. Since placing restrictions on a few streets will only push the problem to those that do not have similar restrictions, I would like to have them apply to the entire area if possible. I would like to accomplish this by individual location so each petition should be for one specific street only. Please recall that since the restrictions will affect all residents, we require a fairly significant majority of the families residing on the street to request that they be placed. Although we have each address in our database, to help us determine this, we ask that you specify the total number of families residing on the street in the appropriate location on the petition. Should you require additional space for signatures on a particular street, please use a completely new petition. DO NOT attach an additional list of signatures to a petition since this does not ensure that the person signing read the petition. After all signatures have been collected, simply enter the number of pages for that street in the upper right hand corner of the petition (i.e., 1 of 2; 2 of 2, etc.). We only require one person’s signature per family. If two families reside at one residence and both are in favor of the restrictions, there should be two signatures for that address. Only a single signature per family per address shall be counted. Please feel free to call my office or email me should you have any questions. I can be reached directly at 682-5340. Completed petitions may either be mailed to my attention at Greenburgh Police Headquarters, 188 Tarrytown Road, White Plains, New York 10607, or dropped off at the main desk for me any time of the day." Chief John Kapica
Lynn Klein Riotto, 63 Mercer Avenue

4 comments:

  1. I admit that the Chief's requirements for installing the signs is patently reasonable but, out of curiousity, are there any constitutional law scholars or civil libertarians out there raising their eyebrows at police assuming legislative authority in determing the standards for parking restrictions? Isn't this rule making the reserve of elected officials (i.e., the Town Board)?
    Dan Weinfeld

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  2. BTW there are numerous limited or partial parking restrictions on Greenburgh roads. Follow http://www.ecode360.com/?custId=GR0237 to the town code and look for section 460-63 for a list. Many seem to be related to schools (for example, Wilson St.), but others are clearly aimed at commuters such as Club Way's 8 to 10 a.m. restriction.

    For those further interested, the authority of Town Boards over traffic regulations within Towns is found in the NY State Vehicle and Traffic Law, Title 8, Article 39 § 1660.
    Section 18 thereof allows the Town to "Prohibit, restrict or limit the stopping, standing or parking of vehicles."

    Consequently, the Town Board should be deciding on the process or standards for instituting parking restrictions, not the police department. Again, I'm not arguing that the Chief's petition requirement is unreasonable (although others might), but I was surprised that the four Board members sat by silently as the Chief announced this policy.
    Dan

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  3. Dan,

    Do you think we should NOT be circulating the petition for restricted parking but take this to a Town Board meeting?

    On the curbstones, noticed today on my way home from the train station that some blacktop was thrown at a few of the problem curbstones on Mercer Avenue between Findlay and Charlotte and some patches to the roadway were also made. Tomorrow will walk the neighborhood to see what else they may have done and will report back.
    Lynn

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  4. Lynn:
    Since the Chief has decided on the petition route with the Town Supervisor sitting silently next to him, I don't think there is really another option without making this needlessly complicated. I'm sure if the Board was approached directly they would also require the petition. Lawyerly Insistence that they follow proper legislative rule-making procedure would only delay this effort. My comments were just my thinking back to law school about governmental powers. It is interesting, however, that the Board and Police representatives forget to mention the Club Way 8 to 10 a.m. restriction (did Club Way residents file a petition?). Instead they seemed more concerned about wedding and funeral complications.
    Dan

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