Hannah Kliger joined the CBS News New York team as a reporter in May 2022, focusing her coverage in Brooklyn. A native New Yorker, Hannah has received several awards for her investigative journalism about problems plaguing Brooklynites, from hate crimes to housing rental scams.
Business owners along McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn say their once-busy corridor has turned into a parking nightmare because of broken cars, blocked lanes, and swirling trash.
Jennifer Barretta, a national pool champion and owner of Skyline Billiards, opened her business in Gravesend to share her favorite game with the community. However, she says a growing sense of lawlessness in the neighborhood is hurting both her bottom line and her customers' safety.
"They double park in front of my driveway," Barretta said. "And when they do that, the person who's leaving my business can't see into the road. And I'm afraid somebody is going to get killed."
Walking along McDonald Avenue and Avenue W, Barretta pointed out cars that have been left totaled and unmoved for weeks.
"They just use it as their private parking lot," she said. "As soon as the tow truck pulls up, they run out of the shop."
Sidewalks are crowded with cars, some double parked two or three rows deep.
"You're literally in the middle of the street before you see traffic is coming. Because they're double parked, he has to go over into that lane to even get out," she said, pointing to a driver trying to merge into traffic.
The congestion not only blocks traffic but also prevents street sweepers from doing their job.
"You see, like, the trash swirling because there hasn't been a street sweeper over here," Barretta said. "I've never seen one."
Next door, Alex Ivanov keeps a log of his calls to 311 about the same issue.
"You complain, call 311, [but] 311 does nothing," Ivanov said. "No rules, no nothing, no law."
The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) says the problem stems from several nearby auto repair shops that store cars on the street and sidewalk. The agency notes it can only remove abandoned vehicles without license plates, not damaged ones that still have them. Even then, people come out to stop tow trucks, claiming responsibility for the car.
"The data shows that we take these complaints seriously," a DSNY spokesperson said in a statement. "In Fiscal Year 2025, we removed 26,605 vehicles, up from 12,932 in Fiscal Year 2024 and 6,220 in Fiscal Year 2023."
Some auto shop workers told CBS News off camera that they have nowhere else to park the cars, and that the worst consequence is a ticket their customers will pay.
An NYPD spokesperson said that so far this year, the department "has issued a total of 158 parking summonses along McDonald Avenue, including 25 for parking on the sidewalk, 22 for no parking street cleaning, 13 for blocking the fire hydrant and 34 for double parking." The department also towed 13 cars from the area.
Still, Barretta said the effort isn't enough.
"They'll give a ticket to only the car that I'm calling about," she said. "And there's about 40 other cars that are illegally parked, and they don't do anything about those. They just leave them there."
For now, locals say they'll keep calling for action as they watch their neighborhood grow more congested and less safe.