Watch out, that shrub may be hiding a street

Ask Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz when a street is not a street, and he’ll probably tell you: When it’s a forest.

But when is a street that’s actually a forest still, in fact, a street?

The NYPD says the answer lies on Forster Place, a narrow private lane off of Huxley Avenue, south of West 261st Street, that turns to trees and shrubbery before intersecting with Broadway. Last December, Riverdale resident Sheran Tavarez parked along Broadway in front of the lane where Forster would empty out to the main thoroughfare — that is, if it weren’t actually a gently sloping hill replete with woods and shrubbery.

But a traffic enforcement agent, perhaps not seeing the forest for the trees, gave her a $115 ticket for blocking the traffic lane.

“They’ve ticketed everybody that even gets close to that street,” said Ms. Tavarez, a television producer and director.

“It’s crazy,” she later added.

She appealed to Mr. Dinowitz, and since then, the state lawmaker has been waging a furious war of words on her behalf. The dispute over that ticket is still raging.

“It’s kind of symptomatic of a general problem that we have,” Mr. Dinowitz said. “The way I see it, there are so many legitimate tickets that you can give out without harassing innocent people.”

Ms. Tavarez went to Mr. Dinowitz in April, and the assemblyman wrote a letter to the deputy chief at the NYPD responsible for traffic control.

“Please note that there is in fact no crosswalk, no traffic light, no parking signage and no traffic coming down this street and therefore the ticket should have never been issued,” he wrote, asking for the NYPD to inspect the location, dismiss the ticket and take steps so that parking at Forster Place’s non-intersection would cease to be considered an offense.

Months passed. Then, in early August, Mr. Dinowitz received a letter from a lieutenant in the city’s Parking Enforcement District.

“As per the NYC Traffic Regulations a summons for this violation, based upon the personal observations of a Traffic Enforcement Agent,” the lieutenant wrote, “does not require a posted traffic sign in order for a summons to be issued.”

The lieutenant also verified that Forster was, in fact, a street — although there’s a steep hill full of trees and brush between any drivable asphalt and the intersection with Broadway where Ms. Tavarez parked.

Mr. Dinowitz, not amused, wrote a heated reply.

“I find it shocking that you referred to this as a narrow two-way street,” he wrote. “Were you even there?”

Weeks have passed and Mr. Dinowitz says he hasn’t received a response.

The office of the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner for Public Information could not comment by press time.

“Mr. Dinowitz,” the parking enforcement lieutenant wrote in his earlier letter, “please let Ms. Tavarez know that the New York City Police Department values its relationship with and its service to the public.” Ms. Tavarez doesn’t feel that the police are providing a service.

“How could you trust the police department to protect you when they’re the ones that cause you grief?” she asked.

This is part of the September 17, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.