Police have stepped in to ease a daily parking problem outside a Fresh Meadows school that has frustrated parents and put students at risk for at least a year.
Parents dropping off their kids at P.S. 173 have been double parking and blocking the school bus stop during the morning rush about 8 a.m., residents said.
“Sometimes they’ll let the kids out in the middle of the street and have the kids run across to get into school,” said Jim Gallagher Jr., president of the Fresh Meadows Homeowners Civic Association.
At times, students are also left stranded in the middle of the road until traffic clears, said former PTA President Alan Ong.
The “No Standing” street on 67th Avenue gets backed up with at least 15 cars at a time, according to Gallagher.
Short-tempered parents have cursed and threatened volunteer parents who try to move traffic along, residents said.
“It’s a dangerous situation,” said John Callari, a nearby resident. “I almost got run over one morning when my wife and I were taking our grandchildren to school.”
Two traffic safety cops at the 107th Precinct have been easing congestion at the school for about half an hour every day, for the last two weeks.
They will continue “as long as resources are there,” a community affairs officer at the precinct said.
Summonses have been issued to illegally parked drivers in the past, but the precinct wants their main goal to be making sure parents understand the danger.
“We’re trying to work with everybody to educate motorists,” the officer said. “Keeping the kids safe is always the priority.”
The school has more than 900 students, from kindergarten through fifth grade, said Ong, who is now a member of Community District Education Council 26.
The Department of Education did not comment.
“Many other schools in the city are experiencing the same problem,” Ong said. “We need to somehow, someway bring awareness to parents. The last thing we want is an accident.”
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