MTA Employees Accused Of Taking Up Parking Spaces Without Paying Meters In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Parked cars are driving people crazy in part of Brooklyn.
Residents say MTA employees are taking up space and getting a pass, when they should really be getting tickets.
As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, there's a big MTA bus terminal on Flatbush Avenue in Marine Park that takes up a whole block. Some are complaining MTA employees are taking up a whole lot of public parking spots without having to pay the meter.
"All day the MTA workers park their car alongside and they put their yellow and orange vests, as you can see, in there so that they don't have to pay for the meter. They don't feed the meter and they're parked for 10 to 12 hours," said Maria Zaharakis, whose family owns the New Floridian Diner across the street from the depot.
"It's not fair to people who live in the neighborhood," Brooklyn resident Caroline Alferoff said.
Along nearby streets, Hsu found nearly 20 cars with bright orange MTA vests in the front windows and even a toy MTA bus. But there were no Muni-Meter tickets in the windows and no parking tickets from the NYPD.
"They put in their car the Transit Authority uniforms, hats, logos, whatever, which seems to immunize them against getting violations," said Councilman Alan Maisel.
Just two blocks away from the bus depot on Utica Avenue there's a designated parking lot for MTA employees with lots of empty spots, Hsu reported.
The MTA said the issue has been raised in the past and the authority has repeatedly reminded employees to "adhere to all parking rules and regulations, which are enforced by the NYPD."
Business owners and residents are hoping MTA employees will listen and regulations will be enforced.
The NYPD said the commanding officer of the local precinct is aware of the condition and is working to address it.