Pols aim to put brakes on illegal truck parking
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Queens BP Donovan Richards and Councilmember Nantasha Williams introduce commercial truck parking limits bill to City Council. Photo courtesy of Nantasha Williams’ office
By Noah Powelson
Several elected officials from Queens say they’ve had enough of large, commercial trucks parking on the borough’s residential streets, and that they want the NYPD to start enforcing the illegal practice.
City Councilmember Nantasha Williams introduced several bills last month at the request of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, all of which are aimed at cutting back at the number of massive tractor trailers that have, in recent years, been parked by drivers overnight on city streets.
One of the bills introduced by Williams proposes creating a new 90-minute parking limit across the city for large commercial vehicles like truck trailers, tractors or semi-trailers. The NYPD would be tasked with enforcing the time limit.
“Our communities have been crying out for a solution to the problem of illegal truck parking, and today, we’re taking action,” Williams said. “This bill gives the NYPD the tools to enforce stricter parking rules while also working hand-in-hand with legislation that provides truck drivers with alternative parking options. It’s about creating a safer, more livable city for everyone.”
The bill is also sponsored by Councilmembers Kevin Riley and Althea Stevens.
Richards and Williams also proposed Int. 0099-2024, which would require the Department of Transportation to establish overnight parking areas specifically for large commercial vehicles within Industrial Business Zones.
Commercial vehicles in these areas would be permitted to park from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The DOT would also be required to work with local community boards to establish overnight parking areas and to inform truck drivers and commercial entities about the new regulations. The bill would also require a yearly report by the DOT evaluating the effectiveness of reducing illegal parking.
“Illegal truck parking has been a persistent problem, particularly in outer-borough communities like Queens,” Richards said in a statement. “This legislation is a smart, balanced solution. It will protect our neighborhoods from the adverse effects of illegal truck parking while ensuring that truck drivers, who are essential to our city’s economy, have the parking infrastructure they need.”
Eighteen other councilmembers have sponsored the bill, as has Zack Miller of the Trucking Association of New York also voiced his support.
"Given federal hours of service regulations and the need to meet customer demands, many of our professional truck drivers are forced to park overnight in locations that they should not be," Miller said. "Truck drivers play a critical role in keeping our economy afloat and the introduction of safe, legal overnight parking areas in IBZs will not only provide relief for drivers but will also help alleviate the shortages that have long affected industrial and residential neighborhoods alike.".
The proposed legislation, if passed, would be just the most recent of several legislative initiatives the city has taken to address illegal truck parking.
In 2022, Mayor Eric Adams introduced “Operation Heavy Duty Enforcement,” which sent the NYPD on a ticket-writing blitz. The police issued over 600 summonses, attached 89 wheel clamps and towed dozens of illegally parked tractor trailers from Aug. 15 to Aug. 19 in the 103rd, 105th, and 113th Precincts.
In September of 2023, the City Council also passed a bill that required an office designated by the mayor to establish at least three off-street parking areas for trailer-tractor vehicles.
However, the past initiatives have not seen sweeping success, officials claim. In Jamaica, residents report lack of enforcement of illegally parked commercial trucks has slowed down traffic immensely and created safety concerns across the neighborhood for years.
“Trucks are parking everywhere – it’s a big problem,” Rev. Carlene Thorbs, chairperson for Queens Community Board 12, told the Eagle. “We have 18 wheelers taking up service lanes, backing up traffic, slowing down the roads from JFK. Every so often we have people crashing into the backs of trucks, and there have been fatalities.”
Thorbs said that commercial truck parking in residential areas has grown tremendously over the years. The area has attracted an increasing number of commercial truck drivers, and Thorbs said many would rather pay for parking tickets than for overnight parking lot fees.
Areas where trucks park in rows along residential streets also limit visibility, Thorbs said, increasing the risk of crashes, especially for children in the area.
Thorbs also said its not always a guarantee that residents’ complaints about illegally parked trucks get enforced by the NYPD.
“Enforcement is an issue,” Thorbs said. “We need the traffic department to do their jobs and enforce parking restrictions. We can’t have them park in front of our parks, in front of our homes.”
According to Richards, past attempts to crackdown on illegal parking in specific neighborhoods only offered temporary, isolated relief for the citywide problem.
“The issues around truck parking in residential areas is still pervasive,” Richards told the Eagle in a phone interview. “This is like a sponge, if you squeeze one end it just goes out the other side. If we crack down on illegal truck parking in North Queens, they just go to South Queens instead. It’s a systemic problem.”
Several bills before the City Council aim to boost enforcement of illegal truck parking on city streets. File photo via Wikimedia Commons
Citing numerous concerns with the increasing number of truck deliveries in the city, including pollution and crime, Richards said he’s hoping the new legislation will be one of many new tools that the NYPD can use to ensure drivers stop parking their trucks on city streets.
Richards also said the limited supply of heavy-duty tow trucks makes parking enforcement difficult. He’s hoping to dedicate parts of the budget to purchase new ones, though he said he has stipulations before he would sign off on those funds.
Richards said heavy-duty tow trucks can go for upwards of a million dollars, and he told the Eagle he wants assurances from the city that any tow trucks purchased would not be used outside of Queens before committing his own office’s funds.
Richards said he was hoping to purchase one or two heavy duty tow trucks in the next budget cycle.
In the meantime, Richards also said that increasing parking fines for commercial trucks is another tool at the DOT’s disposal. Richards said many truck drivers who work for large companies like Amazon have the funds available to eat the cost of a parking ticket. Increasing parking fines, Richards said, could deter drivers from parking illegally if the cost was too high.
“It’s not totally [the truck drivers’] fault either,” Richards said. “The city needs more low cost, efficient overnight parking spots for our truck drivers.”
Upon hearing of the introduced legislation that would establish designated overnight parking for commercial vehicles, Rev. Thorbs said she felt the law would be a good step toward clearing Queens’ streets of illegally parked trucks.
"This is the type of thing we need to happen here,” Thorbs said.
