By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — John Lennon, who sparked the British Invasion as a member of the Beatles, has spawned another, less welcome, invasion on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Residents of The Dakota apartment building where Lennon was murdered in 1980 complained on Monday about an influx of tour buses double-parked outside the tragic site, the Westside Independent.com and the New York Post reported.
“They are an inconvenience and a nuisance,” 14-year Dakota resident Gail Bell told the Post. “When the tourists get out, they block the entire sidewalk and you can’t get back into your building. It’s dangerous because many times, the buses block the intersection. They block the vision of the pedestrian walking across. I’ve seen people nearly killed.”
Upper West Side City Councilwoman Gale Brewer agreed.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Brewer told the Post. “It’s not that we don’t want tourism, but it needs to be done safely. It’s gotten out of hand.”
During Brewer's interview with the paper, a tour bus pulled up next to the building, on West 72nd Street, dispersing passengers who gawked at the site of Lennon's death, according to the Post.
Similar disturbances have been caused near Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village, where an appearance on "Sex and the City" led to an influx of tourists and sightseeing buses, the Post noted.
Drivers who idle outside the Dakota may be fined up to $2,000, according to the paper.
