Residents Fuming Over Illegal Street Racing In Maspeth
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- It is a dangerous pastime in Maspeth, Queens that residents said has been going on for more than 25 years.
Dozens of drivers and even more spectators line Maurice Avenue and other nearby roads for illegal street racing.
"My windows rattle. My walls shake," resident Madeline O'Boyle told CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez.
"I always hear a lot of cars and it makes me wake up," one little boy said. Another woman compared the racing to NASCAR.
Those residents are now demanding the city take action.
"It's really impairing our quality of life and we need to get rid of it," Armand Czapkowski said.
City Council member Jimmy Van Bramer and local residents want increased police patrols to stop the potentially deadly practice.
Van Bramer said the city should "make sure that people know that this is illegal and that the penalties are severe."
A few weeks ago, the city made some improvements to Maurice Avenue by resurfacing it. While the city residents were happy with the work, the street racers loved it even more.
"Now they have a smoother surface to race their cars on. When they resurfaced it, that would have been a perfect time to put speed bumps or speed humps," Van Bramer said.
"This is a very wide road, it's a newly paved road, it's a fast road. So until that changes, I think it's just going to go back and forth," Mary McGarvey Depuy said.
