Next to Vernon Blvd station
Aug. 27, 2013 By Christian Murray
No, it’s not post-modern art.
In fact, it’s what’s left following an arson attack that blew up a car in Sunnyside about 10 days ago.
The vehicle—or at least its carcass—rests just outside the Vernon Boulevard subway station and bemused commuters walk by smelling the burned out fumes wondering what it is doing there.
“It’s the weirdest thing,” said Mike Rogers, who was about to walk down the stairs into the Flushing-bound subway. “You just don’t see that every day…and it stinks.”
The police said that the vehicle is parked there since it’s “evidence” involving a string of Sunnyside arson attacks. Five fires were set in that neighborhood in the early hours of August 18.
One of the fires involved the torching of a vehicle, which had belonged to former City Councilman Eric Gioia. His car was parked in his Sunnyside driveway when the arsonist threw a lighted cigarette into the backseat.
That burned out car now rests next to the Vernon Blvd subway station.
The suspect in those fires, Devon J. Page, was arrested.
With the arrest, the car should be towed to the pound shortly, the police said.
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14 Comments
Anonymous, you’re saying what many of us have been saying for decades. People have gone in the station and talked to the captain. There have been meetings and calls to local pols. The result? Nothing. Just nothing. I honestly don’t know how this situation with the cops and their disdain for their neighborhood will ever change. If anyone else has ideas on what can be done, chime in.
This is just absurd, they got to get cars like this off the sidewalk and out of the front yard of our neighborhood. It’s a safety issue for people passing by. Their cars are parked all over the sidewalk never allowing adequate room for walking down the street, why does City Planning, DOB and DOT go to such great lengths to regulate where and how sidewalks and roads are built only to have NYPD dump garbage like this in the middle of the sidewalk. Completely unacceptable. They need to suck up the cost and rent a nearby lot for all their vehicles on the sidewalks.
Who’s parking lot does the fenced in parking belong to? Why can’t they park the cars in there and put something up on the fence to block the view? At least till they find a better place to put these mangled up cars?
The problem with your analogy, Ro, is that apart from mild disgust, I wouldn’t really care if someone left their underwear in their own apartment. What the 108th is doing is leaving their shit-stained underwear on the floor of YOUR apartment.
This is simply par for the course for this police precinct. They have had contempt or just not cared about their own neighborhood and the people who live here for many, many years. It’s only now that they are getting more attention on their dismissive attitude because we are finally getting a critical mass of people here who are complaining.
But from my own experience with these cops, I ain’t holding my breath. The culture is too ingrained to expect rapid change.
A good analogy of this burnt car right when you exit the 7 Train Station, is like going to someone’s house and finding their dirty underwear laying around right when you walk-in the front door. 108 time to clean up your mess.
Move it to PS 1. I’ve seen worse over there.
This is embarrassing to the neighborhood. Imagine the blowback coming from the community if this occurred on the Upper West Side or some Manhattan neighborhood.
Has anyone contacted VanBramer about this? The 108 needs to stop putting these blood soaked, torched, mangled messes in our neighborhood.
And what if a family walks by and a child accidentally reaches out to touch this ‘evidence’ and gets cut? Could they sue the city?
I walked by the car this morning and thought it was some sort of social statement or art installation. To know that it’s just a hunk of garbage sitting there because our system is too inept to put it in a more responsible location is actually pretty frightening.
To our LIC law enforcement: this is pathetic. Get it together.
Use the Maspeth impound yards. Thats where they quickly take any car in LIC that is “mal-parked” (new word). 🙂
A few decades ago, I remember the police parked a car in that same spot that still had blood and gore from an accident visible inside. It was pretty disgusting. I agree with the previous poster: why can’t these vehicles be put in a police impound yard? You never see this crap in other neighborhoods.
The cops of the 108th — Old Habits Die Hard.
The car should get a ticket for being parked so closely next to a fire hydrant.
Are there really no police impound yards where these can be stored? How safe is the “evidence” if it’s sitting in the middle of the sidewalk?
They have always dumped the cars here. Arson and accidents alike. They sometimes line them up on Borden Ave.