SUNSET PARK — Sunset Park’s police officers are targeting abandoned and illegally parked vehicles under the Gowanus Expressway in a new initiative that began Monday.
Operation “Take Back” will run every night this week to tow vehicles that “notoriously park” for months at a time on Third Avenue beneath the expressway in the neighborhood, authorities from the 72nd Precinct said.
“It’s something that the community has been wanting for years,” Dean Hanan, a community affairs officer said.
“We’re taking back the Gowanus [Expressway]. It’s no longer a place where people can just dump vehicles and think it is OK,” he said.
The precinct tweeted about the operation Tuesday. Hanan added that police are tackling the stretch between Prospect Avenue and 62nd streets and plan to repeat the operation multiple times this year.
Operation "taking back" is on! Abandoned cars and trucks are being towed on 3rd Ave @cmenchaca @SunsetParkBID pic.twitter.com/QAhdBnNY5R
— NYPD 72nd Precinct (@NYPD72Pct) April 7, 2015
City records show there have been 26 311 complaints for derelict vehicles and 47 for illegal parking in the last year.
During the operation, which will take place between either 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. or 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., officers will only tow vehicles that are stolen, abandoned, commercial or illegally parked, Hanan said.
Police say the vehicles’ presence ruin the quality of life for people who live on Third Avenue and businesses that operate along the busy corridor.
Removing the vehicles will also allow workers to clean the area under the expressway, which has long been soiled with trash and debris.