Airport workers and travelers taking up residents parking spots in Queens

HOWARD BEACH (WABC) -- Residents near JFK Airport in Queens say the parking spots in their neighborhood are being taken up by people who don't live there, and they want something done about it!

They may live close so close to JFK they can practically touch the parade of inbound planes, but in the place locals call "Old" Howard Beach the noise is the farthest thing from their minds.

"It's hell! It's plain hell!" a resident said.

It's been more than a decade since the Air Train started running into the airport from the A stop on 103rd Street.

But far from a convenience, locals say it's become little more than a blight.

Airport workers are apparently taking advantage of free street parking, on their way to work, and leaving none for people who actually live here.

So Anthony Ambrosino pays insurance on a car he never drives.

"I park it here! To hold this freakin' spot here!" Ambrosino said.

"I come home from work; I have to drive around for an hour to get a parking spot. And sometimes it's an hour and half, and one time I had to eat my dinner in my car because I can't park," said Carol Ann Carbone, a resident.

People who live there say the problem has gotten so bad some of them have taken matters into their own hands. The owner of one house painted his own signs and nailed them to a tree. But he didn't stop there, there's a trash can and a cone sitting in the street. And he even painted his own lines and wording trying to get JFK commuters to stay away from his house.

"They're driving people in this community absolutely insane. They shouldn't be victim to the bad habits of airport employees, TSA workers and travelers who take advantage of the fact there's no metered parking and they can leave their car here for free," said Eric Ulrich, a New York City Councilman.

City Councilman Ulrich says blames the TSA for failing to provide free parking on property for its employees, who residents say are among the worst offenders.

Hommy Martinez works at an airline catering company and he too parks on 103rd Street.

"Do they have a point?" Eyewitness News asked.

"Yes they do," Martinez said. "Need to start parking inside the airport and stop being lazy."

Chalk up at least one victory for the long suffering locals, though they fear the fight will never end.