Abandoned For Months, 15K Cars Sit On Queens' Roads

ASTORIA-SUNNYSIDE, QUEENS — For almost the entire year that Philip Leff has lived in Sunnyside, the same dark blue car has been parked on the corner of his block.

He called 311, the city’s non-emergency service line, a couple of times, but the outcome is always the same — shortly after the abandoned car is reported, his complaint is marked as resolved by the Police Department.

“An hour later I get a notification that the Police Department took action, so presumably they wrote a ticket, but the stupid car is still there,” Leff told Patch of his most recent call to 311 on Tuesday.

Three days later, the car is still parked on the corner, unmoved, with three flat tires and a registration that expired last October.

When asked about what is happening with the car, the 108th Precinct, which patrols Sunnyside and is responsible for responding to abandoned vehicle complaints in the area, told Patch that they will “provide information once it is available.”

‘An ongoing issue’

Leff is not alone in his frustration.

More than 34,500 New Yorkers have reported abandoned vehicles to 311 since the start of this year, amounting to 900-plus more calls than all of 2020.

It's also 10,000 more calls than pre-pandemic 2019 — before the coronavirus emptied New York City’s roadways and relaxed alternate side parking rules.

As in years past, most — or 44 percent — busted cars reported so far during 2021 are littering the streets of Queens, making the borough a veritable dumping ground for 15,434 reportedly abandoned cars.

“It’s an ongoing issue,” said Leff, explaining that he often walks around Sunnyside and sees abandoned vehicles accumulating parking tickets.

“Most New Yorkers don't use their car every day, and it is sometimes easier and cheaper to just leave it on the street than pay for a garage,” even in the face of a $65 ticket, he said.

For Leff, who staunchly isn’t a car-owner, the ongoing issue of abandoned vehicles exemplifies the city’s car-first mentality, which he says benefits a certain subset of affluent New Yorkers.

“I think we need to see curbside space as public space, and think about how we can leverage that public space to serve all of our neighbors, not just the often-wealthier, small percentage that own cars,” he said, pointing to Transportation Alternatives’ proposal to reclaim a quarter of the city’s streets by 2025 as an example.

And, while the city has tried to transform some of its roadways into public space with the Open Streets program, the initiative has actually posed more challenges for getting some abandoned vehicles off the road.

Abandoned cars on Open Streets

In Astoria, a neighborhood away from Leff, an abandoned car was sitting on the 31st Avenue Open Street gathering garbage and debris underneath for almost three months.

When volunteers and local business owners first started reporting the vehicle this summer, they got conflicting answers from the city about which agency to call. Some were told to reach out to the Department of Sanitation, which usually handles the enforcement and towing of abandoned vehicles without license plates, and others were directed to the Department of Transportation, which oversees the Open Streets program, explained John Surico, a reporter and 31st Ave. Open Street volunteer.

While the DOT itself told Patch that the Police Department was responsible for the car on 31st Avenue, since it was abandoned with plates, Surico said that enforcing regulations on a new city program has not proven to be that straightforward.

“Open Streets is a Department of Transportation program, but it’s kind of still a question as to who enforces it and who can be trusted to enforce it,” he said.

In fact, it wasn’t until Surico tagged the DOT and the 114th Precinct, which patrols Astoria, that police towed the car — an occurrence that he says is far too common in transit advocacy.

“This is following a pattern where until transit issues get blasted on social media, or in some instances put in front of the mayor, things don’t really happen,” he said.

Police and parking enforcement

The issue of enforcement is further complicated by conflicting opinions as to what the role of police should be in the community space, including when it comes to parking enforcement, Surico said.

When the 114th Precinct shared an image on social media showing a police tow truck removing the abandoned vehicle from 31st Avenue, for instance, they faced the wrath of local community members.

“Now remove your illegally parked personal and squad vehicles that block every single sidewalk for blocks around your precinct,” commented one person. Other locals posted photos to the thread showing police vehicles parked on sidewalks throughout Astoria — a tactic which the precinct is infamously known for.

Surico wants the Open Street to be a community space for everyone, but said that the response on Twitter indicated that people in western Queens “might need some convincing that the 114th [Precinct] can be part of this community presence.”

The 114 Precinct did not respond to Patch’s questions about their response to the abandoned car on 31st Avenue, or the community’s response. Instead, the precinct said to reach out to the NYPD press office, which did not respond to a request for comment by this article’s deadline.