The Board of Trustees in the village of Mamaroneck passed an amendment to the village code that restricts the amount of consecutive days a vehicle may be parked on any street from 21 to seven days. This amendment to the vehicle abandonment code, passed during the Feb. 22 Board of Trustees meeting, comes after months of complaints from residents who have been demanding a solution to overcrowded parking villagewide.
Laura Abbate, of the Washingtonville neighborhood, has been a strong advocate for a solution to the problem for more than two years. Abbate, who has lived in the village her entire life, is glad to see the amendment passed, and believes it will mitigate part of the parking problem. Many residents have experienced trouble finding available parking spaces throughout the village.
“Our street in particular [Washington Street] gets very congested,” she said. Although Abbate has a driveway that can fit more than two cars, she said that her tenant, a local teacher and mother of two small children, often has to park three to four blocks away.
Abbate has done some of her own research in her quest to fix the issue, including counting cars that haven’t moved and demanding traffic studies be conducted.
“We’ve had two snowstorms and there were at least 11 vehicles that haven’t moved since the first [storm on Jan. 22],” she said as of February 26. Abbate told the Review that she’s so passionate about this issue because she’s the fourth generation in her family to live in the Washingtonville section of the village.
“It’s my investment,” she said. “I live there and I’ve always lived there.” Abbate also believes that with more housing being built and the industrial area of the village expanding, parking spaces will become even more coveted.
Village Manager Richard Slingerland told the Review that village employees have been observing these vehicles left for several weeks at a time throughout the village.
“They become targets for vandalism and theft and it also takes away spots for other people who live in the area,” he said.
To accommodate residents who may need to leave their cars for extended periods of time for valid reasons, the village will grant extensions as long as the owner of the vehicle provides information ahead of time, and applies for a temporary permit from the village.
Now that the amendment to the code has been made, the village must officially file it with the New York State Department of State. According to Slingerland, any time a local law is adopted by a municipality, it must be filed with the state department, which maintains records of all local laws. Once the law is officially acknowledged by the state department, the law will go into effect.
Slingerland said the village will begin sending out information to its residents regarding the change, and is working with village police to develop a warning system to ease residents into the new law.
Mamaroneck Police Sgt. Sandra DiRuzzo said that because the village is still working on a plan of action to incorporate a warning system and police the new code, the Police Department could not comment on their involvement in enforcing the new code as of press time.
