Changes to parking and traffic rules may be on the way to the streets around Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village.
Two requests for traffic signage changes were presented to Community Board 5’s (CB 5) Transportation and Public Transit Committees during their joint March meeting that would bring back parking to the residential side of Juniper Boulevard North, and convert a stretch of 62nd Avenue from a two-way street to a one-way street.
The demand for parking across the CB 5 area is always high, and the area around Juniper Valley Park is no different.
According to Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA), overnight parking was eliminated along Juniper Boulevard North decades ago when residents around the park complained that people were hanging around the park in their cars at all hours of the night, causing problems for those who lived directly across the street.
To address that problem, “No Standing” signs were placed along Juniper Boulevard North that prevented overnight parking from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
“That was done in the late ’80s, early ’90s because people would hang out in cars and drink and make noise all night,” Holden said of the “No Standing” signs. “The police said we can stop them from drinking, but we can’t force them to leave the area of the park legally. The only way would be no standing signs. And that solved the problem.”
Now, residents are looking to bring overnight parking exclusively to the north side of Juniper Boulevard North.
During the meeting, the CB 5 committees agreed to reach out to the JPCA for their opinion on the change.
“We’ve got to do a study on this, poll our members over there to see if they want this,” Holden said. “So in the next few weeks we are going to do that. We’ll listen to what everyone says and look at it during our April 27 meeting.”
A second request was made to change 62nd Avenue between 80th Street and Juniper Boulevard North/77th Street from a two-way street to a one-way street westbound, due to concerns over accidents along the roadway.
According to the CB 5 committees, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved this request and are looking to the board for approval to officially come and make the change.
“Committee members are going to take a look at the situation before moving forward,” said Gary Giordano, district manager for CB 5. “If the committee is favorable to this, then we would organize a public hearing at one of the full board’s monthly meetings.”
“I personally wouldn’t have a problem with that one-way westbound,” Holden added. “I think one-way streets make it safer. It’s not going to stop the accidents, but hopefully it could help the situation.”
Both topics will be brought up at the April 27 JPCA meeting at Our Lady of Hope School in Middle Village.
