Battery Park City’s already notoriously difficult parking situation may be on the verge of much getting worse. A specialized law enforcement unit, HIDTA (which stands for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) recently moved into a 56,000 square foot space in the Brookfield Place office complex, occupying the entire 19th floor of 250 Vesey Street. The facility will be staffed 250-plus law enforcement personnel from more than a dozen agencies, including the NYPD, the FBI, the DEA, Customs, United States Secret Service, the New York State Police, the New York City Department of Correction, and the New York State Division of Parole, among others. And if long experience is any guide, many of these officers will drive to work in cars bearing placards that effectively mean they can park anywhere.
At the Tuesday meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1), chairman Anthony Notaro said, “officers have been taking over parking on the streets of northern Battery Park City. We’ve heard reports of problems from residents, particularly about entrances to buildings being blocked, so that emergency services or school buses can’t get to the curb.”
Captain Brendan Timoney, commander of the NYPDP’s First Precinct, said, “we’ve been working with the HIDTA command, which is not part of First Precinct, and we’ve had meetings with Brookfield Properties and the NYPD’s Intelligence Division,” which oversees HIDTA. “They have accepted our suggestions, and will leave open more space near Irish Hunger Memorial and will try to leave more space open by building entrances.”
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you those cars will disappear,” Captain Timoney continued. “That unit is here to stay. It’s a good thing for this community, it gives you extra police presence. But like anything else, you’re going to have bumps in the road.”
Captain Timoney cited the example of photographs of illegally parked vehicles displaying police credentials that he received. “We called the sergeant who is the integrity control officer at HIDTA,” he recounted, “and they were moved right away.”
Captain Timoney also said that the HIDTA office had rented 130 parking spaces within 250 Vesey Street, but said that many of these were for official police vehicles, used in undercover operations. “There are some nondescript cars they don’t want public to get sight of,” he said. He was unable to estimate, however, the number of personal cars that officers assigned to HIDTA might drive to the office and park on nearby streets.
Dennis Gault, a member of CB1’s Battery Park City Committee who lives in the north neighborhood, said, “the problem is especially bad for the aged. Yesterday, one of these private cars parked in front of a bus stop. The shuttle bus that had come to pick up an elderly woman was unable to get to the curb, so she had to step into the slush.”
Captain Timoney replied, “no officer should be parked in a bus stop. The elderly and the young, we have to protect them.”
Mr. Gault continued, “I’ve seen fire trucks trying to access buildings, but unable to get to the front door.”
Captain Timoney answered, “I’m worried about a school kid who has to walk out in the middle of the street because a bus can’t get to the curb. No parent should have to worry about their kid getting to school safely. Police vehicles should not be blocking fire hydrants, bus stops, or crosswalks.”
Battery Park City is, in statistical terms, the most parking-deprived community in the five boroughs of New York City. With a residential population of more than 13,000, it has just 201 parking spaces available to the public, of which 58 are metered and 143 are unregulated, except by alternate-side parking rules. (These figures come from a report by the City’s Department of Transportation issued in 2008, the last year for which detailed numbers are available.) While there is ample curb space within the community’s 92 acres (enough for more than 1,600 parking spaces), 59 percent of it falls within zones that are signed “no standing” (785 spaces) and “no parking” (581 spaces). Much of the rest is set aside for commercial vehicles, buses, and vehicles displaying government placards.