By Mary C. Marvin

Nov. 2, 2016:  Many of you have commented on the increased number of drivers crossing double yellow lines to snag a coveted parking space, particularly on Pondfield Road.

The police chief is quite aware of the uptick and adds officers when available to concentrate on this violation, which we know will increase as the holiday shopping season approaches. (Of late, our overtime budget and added officers have been tasked to concentrate on the crimes in our residential neighborhoods.) Crossing the double yellow line is a difficult offense to punish, as a police officer must actually witness the violation. Unfortunately, calling the police desk with license plate numbers and photos has no effect.

Our parking enforcement officers, or PEOs, cannot act even as an eyewitness to this behavior because they are not police officers; they are authorized and trained only to issue parking tickets, and in very limited cases an appearance ticket for minor violations. New York State Vehicle and Traffic Laws can only be enforced by trained police officers. Traffic stops are actually the most dangerous duty of a police officer, because stops often lead to more serious charges such as stolen car cases or outstanding criminal warrants, and a PEO has none of the training, equipment, or weapons needed to handle these unpredictable situations.

Quite related is the proliferation of bicycle riding on business district sidewalks. A provision in the village code dating back decades prohibits riding on commercial sidewalks by those 11 years of age and older.  Quite clearly this language serves to make the law nebulous and unenforceable.

To that end, the trustees are conducting a hearing process to change the legal language to a total ban on bicycles on crowded sidewalks to safeguard pedestrian passage.

In the same vein, as a reminder, when a pedestrian enters a designated crosswalk, New York State law requires not only the car in the immediate lane to stop, but also the cars traveling in the opposite direction.  As illustration, at the crosswalk near the soccer store and Houlihan Lawrence, the law requires that all four lanes of traffic stop when an individual enters a crosswalk. However, conversely, it is important to remember that a crosswalk is not an extension of the sidewalk, and pedestrians must exercise careful judgement before taking that first step off the curb. When crossing a roadway without a marked crosswalk, a pedestrian must yield that right of way to all vehicles. 

Many pedestrians are also concerned about the speed of cars as they cross throughout the village.

New York State law requires a minimum vehicular speed of 30 mph for villages. The only exceptions are school zones (20mph) and exceptional circumstances that must be documented with evidence of a history of multiple significant accidents. As of yet, none of our streets have met this threshold allowing us to lower the speed limit.

Remaining on business district issues, parkers often ask the rationale for the days our meters are in operation, as they don’t always coincide with federal holidays. The purpose of a meter is to stimulate the movement of cars to increase customer parking for our businesses, and it has no relation to the village’s respect for certain holidays over others. As example, on Veterans Day all of our stores will be open, so providing free parking from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm would severely hurt business traffic, compared with free meters on Memorial Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day, when all stores and businesses are closed, which have no impact on the flow of space turnover.

Parking on all village streets is currently prohibited from 2:00 am to 6:00 am. The rationale is not only for the obvious reasons of street cleaning and snow plowing but also to spot abandoned or suspicious cars left on village streets.

However, the trustees are aware that this prohibition presents hardships to disabled residents and residents having children and extended family visit from time to time, so we re-examining the blanket prohibition. We realize accommodations and some flexibility are needed for deserving residents.

All of the above are quality-of-life concerns that must be addressed so as to maintain our village as the special home it is.