Bay Terrace Drag Racing Spurs Parking Lot Lock-Up, Officials Says

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Baysiders should sleep better now that a local parking lot is locked up at night, one politician promised.

Over the past several months neighbors have been complaining about noisy car meetups at the Little Bay Park parking lot at the entrance of Fort Totten, said Assembly Member Edward Braunstein, who represents most of Bayside.

Bay Terrace locals have filed seven drag racing reports with 311 in the past six months (more than triple the number of complaints in Bayside during that same time, data shows), and shown up at the local police precinct to complain about the noise, said NYPD Deputy Inspector John O'Connell.

To curb car noise (and complaints) Braunstein, alongside the NYPD and Parks Department, has helped set up a gate and lock at the entrance of the parking lot, which is shut by police officers at park closing, 10 p.m., and reopened by the Parks Department in the morning.

"The new locking system.... will hopefully put a stop to this quality of life concern for the long term," said Braunstein in a news statement.

He believes that locking the parking lot will deter drivers from drag racing at the park and on nearby streets (an ongoing concern among many Baysiders).

So far, the system appears to be working, according to O'Connell, who said he's received "fewer complaints" about car noise since the gate and lock were set up and plans to have wooden barriers dropped off at the parking lot to "thwart further entry during night-time hours."

NYC Parks Queens Borough Commissioner, Michael Dockett, agrees that the gate and lock are a success.

"We are proud to have found a long term solution to ensure that this space continues to be a benefit to the community, and not a detriment," he said.

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