The Publish discovered a number of Amazon contract supply vans double-parked on the Higher West Facet.
Stefan Jeremiah for New York Publish
It’s the “regulation” of the concrete jungle.
Amazon supply drivers who trigger visitors chaos after they commandeer enormous stretches of Large Apple streets are getting extra brazen, with one claiming that cops gave them license to take action.
“The [NYPD] … stated it’s OK to double park right here,” stated driver Shawn Evans from a frenzied “cell distribution hub” — a euphemism for the mammoth vans that double and triple park whereas staff scurry to unload their contents onto cluttered streets and sidewalks.
Evans stated he had been unloading at his location alongside Columbus Avenue on the Higher West Facet for greater than three hours with a truck containing “1,500 … 1,600” objects.
“The NYPD doesn't permit Amazon supply autos to double park or violate any parking rules,” a division spokesman countered. “If these autos are noticed in violation, a summons is issued.”
Evan’s truck was not an outlier. The Publish discovered at the least 4 Amazon supply vans hogging up sections of Columbus this week. Some Amazon staff confirmed that they had been double-parked for hours.
Most of the the vans are surrounded by what look like metropolis visitors cones — however truly belong to Amazon, a number of supply males stated.
The issue shouldn't be distinctive to the Higher West Facet. With its extremely high-density high-rises, the Higher East Facet can be uniquely inclined to Amazon supply jams. Final November the Metropolis Council handed a invoice aimed toward curbing the problem by introducing loading-only parking spots in affected neighborhoods — however thus far outcomes have been restricted.
“It's like Whac-A-Mole,” stated Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer, including that vans would transfer from one location after a criticism to a different. The veteran lawmaker says she has gotten at the least 20 constituent complaints concerning the difficulty this yr.
“It’s an infinite problem,” she stated.
Amazon has so many residence deliveries within the Large Apple that the corporate doesn’t have the capability to immediately ship packages themselves, however slightly contracts the job to outdoors supply firms with their very own staff. Vehicles with hundreds of packages then arrange staging areas at street-side “anchor” areas across the metropolis, drivers stated.
Amazon wouldn't say what number of anchor areas are within the metropolis.
Visitors snarls are simply the tip of the iceberg — supply drivers may be unruly, and even violent, locals stated.
Throughout one incident on March 2, Jeremy Waldis, proprietor of the Harvest Kitchen restaurant on Columbus, obtained right into a squabble over parking with 4 or 5 Amazon staff, considered one of whom threw a punch, in keeping with police.
“If I didn’t duck I'd be within the hospital for every week,” Waldis stated. “The cops stated you guys aren’t actually harm so nothing we may do about it.” Waldis stated he was compelled to get a brand new telephone after the Amazon attacker grabbed his and hurled it throughout the road.
An Amazon spokesman stated the incident “doesn't replicate the excessive requirements we've for drivers who ship our packages” and that the person concerned was “not delivering packages for Amazon.”
However neighbors disagree.
“They're yelling and screaming and persons are outdoors and also you hear them screaming and cursing. It’s invasive,” stated Joe Bolanos, President of West 76th Park Block Affiliation. “These persons are form of simply wild folks.”
He then took a shot at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: “You'd think about that the second or third richest man on the earth would be capable of afford a brick and mortar distribution middle as an alternative of invading our group and disrupting it.”
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