Cars Clog Bayside Street Just Days After NYPD Crackdown: Locals

BAYSIDE, QUEENS -- Just weeks after the NYPD towed more than a dozen cars clogging the streets and sidewalks around a Bayside car dealership, neighbors say the streets are filling up again with vehicles they suspect are more overflow from the dealership's lot.

Danny Simone, who lives in a neighborhood across Bayside Imports, previously told Patch the car dealership at 20201 Northern Boulevard had been clogging street parking in his neighborhood for years with illegally parked cars overflowing from its lot, forcing him to park blocks away from his home. He said the cars impeded sidewalks and stayed parked in the surrounding streets for months - even years - at a time, both of which are illegal, according to the City of New York.

After dozens of 311 calls and complaints to the NYPD's 111th precinct, Simone thought he'd finally caught a break. He came home from work on Nov. 15 to find officers clearing the cars from the streets and sidewalks surrounding the dealership, Patch previously reported.

Precinct 111 tweeted that night that 13 cars had been towed and more than 50 summonses written in a late-night sweep between 202nd Street and Northern Boulevard. The towing was in response to complaints from locals about the growing number of cars, police said.

By the next day, more cars had already appeared, Simone said.

"Literally the next day, there was four cars right on the road in the back," he said.

Simone claimed since the towing, Bayside Imports has begun parking its cars less conspicuously. He walked through side streets of neighborhoods surrounding the dealership, pointing at cars he suspects belong to the dealership. Years of complaining about the dealership have taught him what to look for: Cars marked with dates for towing that have long since passed, out-of-state license plates or none at all.

"The owner parks them a couple blocks up near the dead end, but he's usually concentrated on the next block behind his dealership," Simone said.

Bayside Imports could not immediately be reached for comment.

Precinct 111 crime prevention officer Luigi Galano told Patch the NYPD was keeping an eye on the streets surrounding Bayside Imports, though he couldn't confirm whether or how many of the vehicles towed in the recent sweep belonged to the dealership.

"We're aware of the situation, and we'll see where it leads," he said. "We just did a big tow, but if we have to do another one, we'll do another one."

But Simone said after years of complaints from himself and neighbors, another tow isn't good enough. He wants to see more consequences.

"I want to see them (Bayside Imports) shut down," he said. "That's my main goal, because obviously the owner doesn't give a s--- about us or the law."

Lead photo by Patch Reporter Danielle Woodward.