“The signs go up, the signs come down,” observed one resident of Broad Channel.WHEN the Department of Transportation recently put up several no-parking signs in Broad Channel, the signs quickly disappeared. When locals are questioned on the matter, it appears that nobody knows how this might have happened.
“It must have been the wind,” said one resident. “I have no idea,” said another. One woman shrugged her shoulders and announced, “The signs go up, the signs come down.”
Broad Channel, population about 3,000, sits on an island in Jamaica Bay. Birds from the nearby Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge soar above working-class homes, backyard decks overlook canals on which rowboats bob, and narrow streets dead-end at the sea. The place doesn’t conform to visions of life in Gotham.
So perhaps it’s understandable that many island residents think some city rules shouldn’t apply to them. Many have never cared for the parking regulations that have loosely governed the neighborhood for four decades.
Broad Channel has its own particular parking customs. When the moon tide comes and many of its streets flood, local residents park their cars on Cross Bay Boulevard’s high ground. At other times, however, it’s expected that one ought to be able to park in front of one’s house.
“You own a house, in front of it, it’s your parking spot,” said Jimmy Tubridy, who is 48 and a lifelong resident, as he leaned on the red brick parapet of his front patio one recent afternoon.
“You see that car?” he said to a visitor, pointing to a nearby blue minivan parked in the street. “Who do you think it belongs too?” He answered his question by glancing at the house next to the minivan. He further emphasized his point by repeating these same questions in reference to an SUV, a sedan and a blue minivan in front of nearby houses.
Mr. Tubridy’s block, West 11th Road, is a narrow two-way street. On this afternoon, cars were parked on each side, leaving not much room for a fire or garbage truck to pass. A few weeks prior, the Department of Transportation, having been informed that the no-parking signs supposed to have been posted on the block were missing, put up new signs on the telephone poles.
The regulation is intended to allow emergency vehicles to pass unobstructed. “This is about safety,” said Seth Solomonow, a transportation spokesman.
Local residents, however, have their own solution. Cars are often parked a few inches up on the sidewalk to allow room for trucks to pass. Of course, this is also against parking regulations.
Given the limited parking space on the island, some claimed that their defiance was born from necessity. “Where do they want us to park?” said one man. “In the water?”
The Department of Transportation seems willing to listen. “We’re going to talk to the community about our next steps,” said Mr. Solomonow.
As for the signs newly posted on West 11th Road, they quickly disappeared.
“I didn’t see a thing,” Mr. Tubridy said.
