Almost a dozen residents of the apartment building at 305 Sixth Ave. attended the Village of Pelham Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 28 to ask for interim and long-term parking solutions after they lost spaces when the new Municipal Building and the Pelham House apartment project took over two village lots.
“We feel momentously aggrieved by a day we celebrate the new building but we actually mourn the loss of our parking lot,” Dr. Ahmed Bawa, a resident 305 Sixth Ave., told the board. “You have not, in your plan, compensated us in any way. There is no adequate provision for parking, nor do we know what the plan is for the future.”
“So, number one, we want to know from you what are your medium- to long-term plans to make good the loss of the lot we have relied on and we have used?” asked Bawa. “Number two, we may not be Pelham Manor, and we may not be on the richer side of town, but we are poor, working, ordinary people, and you need to care for us. Tell us what you are doing for the interim period.”
“The long-term plan is very simple,” said Mayor Chance Mullen. One lot “was going to be closed down for a period of time anyway because the work we’re doing on it is structural work because it was in bad shape. No matter what we did, it would be gone. When we converted it, we negotiated for 60 public parking spaces in [Pelham House]. Long-term, we get the spots back.”
Mullen said this would happen in 18 to 24 months. He also said there are now the same number of spaces as there were before, but they have been moved north, and that since the board first met with Bawa, additional spots have been added on Sixth Avenue and in north Pelham.
Bawa said that while there is parking available near Sergio’s restaurant at 503 Fifth Ave., residents of his building can’t park there until after midnight when the restaurant’s customers leave. “Am I supposed to go after midnight for parking that I’ve paid for?” said Bawa.
“We’ve got a petition going and we’re going to lobby you and we’re going to be here at every single one of your future meetings to get the press involved, to get the community involved because we feel that you have not provided for the ordinary person in the town,” he said.
“I definitely sense the frustration,” said Trustee Krystal Howell. “I used to live on Sixth Avenue years ago. All residents in our town are important. There is no resident that is more important than another resident. We hear your concerns, but we have to take your feedback and figure out how do we solution it with those within the village. Safety is paramount. It’s very important, especially considering that area on Sixth Avenue has flooding issues, so we need to make sure our fire trucks can get through there safely to pull people out of their basements.”
Howell and Trustee Theresa Mohan said they would like to be invited to the next meeting of the residents of 305 Sixth Ave. to better understand the residents’ concerns.
Spaces on Lincoln Avenue
Katrina Taylor, who also lives in the apartment building, asked the board about possibly changing the policy on Sixth Avenue from hourly to 24-hour parking. She described her struggle to find a parking spot for her car, even with a permit.
Mullen said he would discuss the idea with the police and fire chiefs. But the village would have to avoid parking spots in front of driveways and keep cars on one side for fire trucks to navigate the street.
Taylor also suggested that Sixth Avenue residents not have to pay overnight parking fines during this period of limited parking.
Another 305 Sixth Ave. resident asked about adding more spaces on both sides of Lincoln Avenue. Mullen said he would investigate the idea, but there may be conflicts with bus routes.
On the potential impact of the federal funding freeze put in place by President Donald Trump and currently on hold due a court order, Mullen said, “We’re not out of the woods yet.” He said the freeze was very broad and “it would affect many of the things that people rely on every day and that municipalities rely on every day.” The mayor encouraged people to seek out their “favorite nonprofit to show your support and also reach out to people in your life that rely on these nonprofits because they may need support.”
Regarding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the village, Mullen said, “When it comes to a local police department, we do not enforce civil immigration laws. We don’t detain anyone for things related strictly to immigration status. We don’t investigate a person’s immigration status, and if ICE or [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] is taking an action in the village, they are federal officers and they are allowed to do that. But we will not participate or assist unless we are given a judicial order to do so. We have this policy because we want to protect the relations between our officers and the community, especially in a community that is diverse. If you out there need any help, you don’t need to be afraid of our cops or any of our municipal employees because this policy applies to all of us.”
Village Administrator Christopher Scelza reported two grants through FEMA have been identified to help fund the village’s storm-sewer overhaul. He said the village will be applying for both grants, which would fund work in the two watersheds in the storm-sewer project (north Pelham and the Highbrook Avenue area).