#illegal-parking

#illegal-parking

Officers with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration are again parking cars in the bike lane on 10th Avenue, returning like junkies seeking a fix even after the city tore up and repaved the roadway earlier this month. On Monday, with fresh pavement practically still warm, DEA agents' cars still filled the curbside lane between 16th and 17th streets even though it was clearly marked as a bike lane. The cars blocked safe travel for cyclists, forcing them into traffic and close to passing cars.

A walk around this Midtown intersection just a few days after Maric's killing helps illustrate why the Adams administration has stalled and obfuscated on universal daylighting: enforcing it would impact politically favored drivers, especially those whose vehicles sport special plates or placards. The next mayor must do better, because New York is coming up against the limits of what it can achieve in reducing traffic deaths and injuries without taking on free or cheap parking, both legal and illegal.

"Officers from the 79th Precinct were busy trying to save cyclists and bust illegal parkers on the newly unprotected stretch of Bedford Avenue, but had to stop issuing summonses because they ran out of them."