Published: August 08, 2008 12:47 am      

CITY OF TONAWANDA: Young Street residents told to park at DPW

Residents aren’t happy with the solution City of Tonawanda officials have proposed to a parking problem on Young Street, but the city says it’s the best it can do under the law.

The mayor and the Common Council are going to allow residents to park in the Department of Public Works lot on Fillmore Avenue, meaning several residents in the vicinity of Young and Scott streets will have to walk approximately 350 yards and past two bars.

“Who’s going to do that in the middle of winter?” asked Kathy Marranca, a Young Street resident who is among a handful who have been critical of the mayor and Common Council over the issue.

For years, Marranca and others whose properties don’t have driveways had been parking on a grassy right-of-way on Young Street, between Scott Street and Odie’s Tavern. It’s technically illegal, but the city police department didn’t enforce it until recently.

Once police began ticketing vehicles that parked there, residents complained to city leaders and were instructed to provide police with their vehicle information so they would not be ticketed while the mayor and council worked out a solution.

City laws prohibit overnight parking on all roads between 4 and 6 a.m. April 1 through Nov. 30 and between 2 and 6 a.m. Dec. 1 through March 31. City officials have said previously that state laws prohibit vehicles from parking on a city-owned right-of-way — the area between the sidewalk and the road.

Police on Thursday placed a memo on cars parked on Young Street notifying them of a directive from the city. It read: “Your police department has been directed by the mayor’s office and the City of Tonawanda Common Council to strictly enforce the overnight parking ban on all city streets.”

It continues that starting Monday, “the police department will begin enforcing the overnight parking ban on the Young Street right-of-way as well. This will include Scott Street.”

Asked what she thought of the memo when she saw it on her car, Marranca said, “I thought they were jerks.”

City Attorney Ron Trabucco said he tried to find something in the law that would provide a better solution. “I cannot find a provision in the law to give them the accommodation they’re asking for, and I’ve looked,” Trabucco said. “There really is no other alternative.”

The city cannot simply allow overnight parking on Scott Street, nor can it continue to allow Marranca and her neighbors to park on Young Street because the law just doesn’t allow it, officials have said. Changing that, they say, would not be fair to other parts of the city.

Trabucco drafted a letter to the residents on Thursday explaining the city’s position. The letter also suggests the homeowners request a variance from the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals to install a small parking pad on their front lawn, provided they have the space for it.

“That’s where this is at right now,” Common Council President Carleton Zeisz said of the situation.

Contact reporter David J. Hill at 693-1000, ext. 115.