May. 23, 2023 By Anthony Medina
Throughout the month of May, the NYPD’s 104th Precinct has shown a continued emphasis on tackling quality of life complaints in the Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village neighborhoods.
The 104th Precinct recently tweeted a photo of neighborhood coordination officers standing in front of an unregistered vehicle they seized at Cypress Avenue and Cypress Hills Street in Glendale, with a huge speaker system grouping on Tuesday, May 23.
Another post on the 104th Precinct Twitter page showed a confiscated modified white Honda with a massive speaker configuration welded on the vehicle’s roof on Saturday, May 20. The vehicle was located at 48th Street and Maspeth Avenue in the industrial district of Maspeth.
The vehicle was impounded and the owner was given an unreasonable noise summons, Deputy Inspector Kevin J. Coleman, commanding officer of the 104th Precinct, told QNS.
“When we seized that vehicle with that huge speaker system on its roof, we actually had no calls about it yet,” Coleman said.
According to Coleman, officers discovered the vehicle while out on patrol, checking on known problem areas. They were then able to confiscate the modified vehicle during the night on Friday, May 19, before any 311 calls were made.
Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5, viewed the post on social media and shared how car owners who blast music show a “lack of respect” for neighbors and residents.
“It’s often about people just being so self-absorbed that they think they have a right to blast their music or to drive their car like a brat, and not caring about other people,” Giordano said.
Giordano also noted how he’s seen a growing desire from residents in recent years to install more speed bumps on their blocks.
Similar Twitter posts were made on the Precinct’s Twitter page in May, featuring confiscated illegal motorbikes, ATVs and other illegally parked or abandoned vehicles removed. Coleman said posting constantly serves as part of a larger strategy to stay connected to the community.
“I use Twitter as one way of showing that we are out there [and] we are addressing these various conditions,” Coleman added. “As much as possible, I like to get that out just to show the community we hear your concerns and we are doing our best to address them.”
Councilman Robert Holden even took to Twitter to praise the 104th Precinct for their efforts to continue eliminating problematic vehicles in the district.
“It’s great to see our city practicing broken windows theory, addressing the little crimes that make a big difference. Together, we’ll keep cleaning up and improving our community,” Holden tweeted.
Noise complaints, among the other 311 complaints categories, are more than common in the confines of the 104th Precinct. In an NYC Open Data Set tracking 311 complaints since 2010, there were approximately 1,650 noise complaints made in Maspeth from May 2022 to May 2023.
Inside of 311 noise complaints for Maspeth are different complaint types and descriptors. Most complaint types originate from residential areas (57%) and street/sidewalks (18%). Noise from commercial locations (14%) and vehicles (10%) make up the other portion of complaint types.
What also contributes to the load of 311 complaints in the confines of the 104th Precinct are vehicles that are illegally parked, abandoned and blocking residential driveways.
Considering the 104th Precinct remains the highest precinct in the city in terms of the volume of 311 calls, Colman insists that tackling quality of life issues will continue.