By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) has asked the city Department of Transportation to stop installing parking meters on Bell Boulevard near 24th Avenue because he said local residents opposed the parking restrictions.
Two poles have been cemented into the ground in front of doctors’ offices on Bell Boulevard near 24th Avenue across from the Bay Terrace Shopping Center.
Avella said residents had complained to him about the meters and he issued a statement criticizing the possible installation of meters in front of homes as “totally inappropriate.”
“Reducing parking for residents in the neighborhood is also a vital concern for all of us,” he said.
DOT spokesman Tom Cocola said 20 two-hour meters would be installed on Bell Boulevard between 23rd and 24th avenues by winter’s end.
“This community is suffering from a lack of opportunity for people who are going to these doctors’ offices to park somewhere,” said Cocola.
