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From the Mayor: Village is Focusing on Quality-of-Life Issues in the Business District

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

June 12, 2024: The Trustees and I continue our focus on the quality-of-life issues as they relate to our downtown business district as we recognize we must spot and eliminate problems /issues early in the warm weather season, so behaviors are not exacerbated or encouraged by non-enforcement.  

With complete cooperation and synchronization with our police department, much has been accomplished.

As example, as to the scooter proliferation issue, the police have laser focused and as a result have impounded over 25 scooters for licensing/registration/insurance violations.

As promised, the next prong of our program to make the village more hospitable, less congested, and quieter is a focus on the crossing of double yellow lines which has become epidemic in the Village post Covid. To accomplish enforcement, our Community Policing Officer Program (CPOP) unit began full-time downtown policing patrol on May 13th. We now have an officer working from 8am to 4pm and a second officer working from 4pm to midnight most days. They are assigned to augment traffic and parking issues in particular, general quality of life concerns and act as liaisons with the merchants and residents. The officers that you will see most frequently on this patrol are Martin Dentini and Nigel Butler.

We have also increased traffic enforcement patrols using overtime in addition to normally scheduled officers and enforce traffic issues related to unsafe vehicle/moped and bicycle operation. In the month of May alone, 186 NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law summons were issued Village wide.

By way of information, the double yellow line violation is probably the biggest aggravation to Villagers and elicits the most phone calls to Trustees and Village Hall as this behavior is not only illegal but causes bottlenecks, honking, but also plainly just not fair to those who wait patiently for upcoming spots on their side of the road. Some of you have mentioned that if we dedicated an Officer just to monitor this violation, we could be making a fortune in ticket receipts.

Unfortunately, such is not the case, thanks to New York State law. A ticket of $175 for such violation brings just $15 dollars to the Village coffers and when you add in the cost of police car operation, officer time, gas and court adjudication, these tickets actually cost the Village money.

The lack of a financial incentive in no way stops us from seeking out these violations as they affect the quality of life and tranquility in the business district as not a few of these violations cause confrontations with frustrated Villagers.

As of today, we have seen an uptick in ticketing of these violations, which, as you know, have to be personally witnessed by a police officer.  A Parking Enforcement Officer cannot intervene as they do not have both the training and legal authority to confront drivers when a moving violation is involved.

We ask you when you see any infraction to immediately call the police desk at 337-0500 as often officers can get to the site quickly and witness the behavior.

Calling later or emailing us pictures after the fact does not help in the enforcement effort. As repetitious as it might sound, when you see something, say something and call in real time.

So many of you have focused on the issues on Park Place, which seems to be the nexus of many of our congestion problems. As a result, we brought in a traffic engineer, Peter Russillo, from Colliers Engineering and Design, based in cities all over the northeast, to review every issue that residents asked to be evaluated.

After extensive review, the engineers determined that Park Place cannot become a one-way street because there is simply not enough turning radius for tractor trailers leaving Park Place after making deliveries not only to Acme supermarket, but all the businesses that abut the West Alley including the Natural Food Store and Value Drugs.

The engineers also looked at the idea of a three-way stop sign at Kraft and Park Place and based upon unequal volumes of traffic on all three entry points, which is the barometer of its feasibility, the intersection does not meet the standards for a three-way stop.

As point of fact, none of the accidents that have happened in that area have been a result of speeding, rather they have been turning conflicts, particularly when turning left as many drivers have cited the pillar in their cars impeding their sight lines and blocking their view of pedestrians in the crosswalk. Even though a pedestrian does have the absolute right to cross at unassigned intersections – no STOP signs or red lights, given visibility issues in the area near Starbucks and Haagen-Dazs, we encourage pedestrians to be especially vigilant by looking in every direction before stepping out.

Based on the engineer’s observations, we are considering an island or raised table near the T-intersection at Kraft Avenue and Park Place as well as a possible loading zone for deliveries and residents who need a quick in and out for a store pick up.

Other issues of concern include the proliferation of tinted windows. New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law allows no front windshield or front side windows to block more than 30% of the light. Our officers have been vigilantly enforcing this violation because frankly these cars are the most dangerous to a police officer who may stop someone for a violation and guns or weapons are not visible through the window.

Finally, the muffler sounds have been particularly grating of late. Per New York State law, factory installed exhaust systems are compliant with the law, but modified systems constitute a violation, and our police officers do tickets when they witness. Under New York State law, the driver can only be charged for this violation not the owner of the vehicle and cameras easily identify license plates but cannot identify with any legality the name of the driver until this law is changed.

Please reach out to us on any issues or concern and we will address. We just need your help.

 

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