Neighbors, mosque and city seek immediate enforcement and longer-term parking plan for Northside streets

Residents of Mount Vernon’s Northside told the City Council on Sept. 24 that weekly Friday prayers at the Westchester Muslim Center are creating repeated safety and quality-of-life problems, and asked the city to enforce parking laws and pursue long-term alternatives.

The most direct complaints centered on Brookfield Road, Southfield Road and adjacent blocks, where residents said cars routinely fill both sides of narrow streets and sometimes block driveways or park on corners. "We have been harassed when simply trying to reach our homes," said a resident who spoke for neighbors of 22 Brookfield Road, describing cars driving onto lawns, people shouting and persistent parking that residents said violates the site plan and building code. "We want our homes back. We won't be safe. Don't wanna be harassed."

Why it matters: City staff described the situation as both a recurring nuisance and a public-safety concern because emergency vehicles and school buses can be impeded. Council members pressed for near-term enforcement as well as structural changes that would prevent repeated recurrences.

What city staff told the council

Director Eric Crump, director of constituent services, said city staff made multiple site visits and street walks and observed a recent Friday with about 200 cars parked across the neighborhood. "On the larger wider streets, Monterey and Pasadena and everything else, they were parked both sides of the street…