By Philip Newman
Two Queens legislators have appealed to John F. Kennedy International Airport officials and airlines to help local residents regain the ability to park in front of their own homes, which has been limited due to employees from JFK who have overrun residential parking spaces.
State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) and City Councilman Eric Ulrich, (R-Ozone Park) sent letters of concern to 10 freight and passenger airlines expressing concern and announced a forthcoming meeting with officials of the federal Transportation Security Administration to consider possible solutions to the problem.
“Our middle-class families work hard and deserve to enjoy the community they invested in without having to spend their days and nights circling the block looking for parking space,” said Goldfeder. “I urge the major airlines and other employees at JFK to be good neighbors and put the brakes on this practice.”
In letters to major airlines at JFK, Ulrich and Goldfeder called on the carriers to respond to reports of employees parking in Howard Beach, Ozone Park and adjacent neighborhoods to commute to the airport via nearby AirTrain stations.
“TSA and other airport employees should be parking their vehicles on Port Authoritry property, not in front of homes in Ozone Park and Howard Beach,” Ulrich said.“Hopefully, they will take action to alleviate this problem to free up much-needed parking for homeowners.”.
Letters were sent to the 10 largest airlines operating out of JFK, including Delta, JetBlue, American, British Airways and United. Letters also went to Fed Ex, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Korean Airlines and Lufthansa.
The Port Authority website for JFK reports that the airport employs some 37,000 workers.
In their letter, Goldfeder and Ulrich emphasized that the Howard Beach AirTrain station was used by around 700,000 passengers so far this year They said this many employees and commuters to one of the nation’s biggest airports has local residents caught in the middle.
“These spaces are taken around the clock,” said Sal Pace of Howard Beach, “We don’t have the luxury of parking in front of our own homes.”
