One of the drivers involved in the incident last night asked that Talk of the Sound publish the following letter:
I am one of the drivers of the Coach Tours busses that was booted Saturday night at the Home Depot. I believe we were hijacked by the City of New Rochelle. While we did park at the Home Depot, we did so on the advise of a police officer assigned to a checkpoint at the Surf Club. The operator of the Surf Club should have provided parking for our vehicles, but did not even want us on his property to drop off the students attending their prom. If that’s the case, why would he book that type of party knowing full well there was no place for us to park. Like I said, we were directed to the Home Depot by a city police officer. Why? We were not idling. We parked, shut down our busses and went to a local restaurant for dinner. We are a very reliable company and do not violate the laws. We do not idle at our venue. We try to be the best we can. The vehicles are well maintained and therefore the emissions are actually less that that of an average car.We use nothing but low sulfur fuel for our equipment. There was improper signage at the Home Depot. No sign at the entrance we came in to, and half a sign that was cut off hung only by a hook. We were made scapegoats by a bunch of limo’s that was there the week before idling all night. We also usually visit local businesses while we are there spending our own money. Don’t worry, because I know I won’t ever come back. I can’t speak for the company but can speak for myself. Consider the amount of business a bus actually brings into the local economy. As for the snooty neighborhood watch program, you should be ashamed of yourself. You were snooty and overbearing. In the eleven years I have been driving busses, nothing like this has ever happened. Like I said, I work for reliable companies that do not violate the local laws. I drive for more that one company and will pass on the information to other I know, not to visit New Rochelle aS IT IS A VERY INHOSPITABLE CITY.
Gerard M. Slomski
Naugatuck, Conn.
Boo Hoo Want Some Cheese with That Whine?
The problems you or your company have with the Surf Club regarding parking are yours and yours alone. To think the local neighborhoods should bear the brunt of, or subsidize the for profit operation of bus companies, limo services or the beach clubs is preposterous to say the least. If you were the professionals you claim to be, then there would be a predetermined area and proper approval for the parking of busses while you wait for your clientele. Why would you presume you could park on private property without prior permission? Quite frankly, it seems ridiculous that you would lumber around with a bus without even a thought of what to do with it while your waiting. Is this typical of the lack of thought you put into your operations? If asking you not to break the law and then responding when you do is snooty and overbearing, well, all I can say is welcome to earth. If you really want to help th local economy, let them tow your busses next time, we’ll make more on that than on your little meals.
A clarification and some agreement
I would certainly agree that the root of the problem is the failure of the Surf Club to provide parking for buses bringing customers to an event they were hosting. So all points made above in that regard strike me as valid. If the drivers or the Coach Tours company is looking to be reimbursed for the money they were required to pay to get the chains off their buses I believe the City should intervene and bring both parties together.
I went to the Surf Club after the buses left the Home Depot lot. There were two officers from the Westchester County Police Department — not the New Rochelle Police Department as stated in the letter above — as part of the County’s Operation Safe Prom program. I spoke to the officer and he says he did not tell the bus drivers to park at the Home Depot. He says he said that when asked where the buses were supposed to park he told them if they made a left on Shore Road there was a shopping center and maybe they could park there. He did not direct them to park anywhere nor would he have the authority to do so as the parking lots on Shore Road and the Home Depot are all under City, not County jurisdiction.
So this point is in dispute:
Having spoken to the officer I do not believe he directed the buses to the Home Depot lot. Further, one of the drivers stated that she and other Coach buses have been parking for years at the Home Depot lot. She said in the past they would park there and then go eat dinner at the Thruway Diner. It was my take that at least one driver knew the Home Depot lot and the drivers went there without direction from WCPD.
I might add here that a limo driver also asked the same WCPD officer if he could park in Davenport Park and that he did not direct him to do so. At 10:30 PM there was a super-stretch limo in the parking lot. The gates to the park were open but the park was closed which is a matter for the New Rochelle Police Department and the Parks & Recreation Department.
It is true that the buses were shut down and not in violation of State or local idling laws. However, the buses were not issued summons by the New Rochelle Police Department or the New York State police so this is not relevant to this particular case.
It appears that the driver is correct in that the L.A. Towing sign at the entrance to Home Depot from Weyman Avenue near the YMCA was not in place. The representative from L.A. Towing said he had placed signs all around the parking lot after Home Depot hired his company but some of them were torn down including the one near the YMCA. However, there were L.A. Towing signs are various points elsewhere in the lot and there were additional signs at the entrance to Home Depot. Further, the parking lot is clearly private property. The onus is on the bus drivers. Even a cursory effort to determine whether the buses could be parked in the lot would have revealed the other “no parking” signs. That a sign was hanging on a hook or that a single sign was missing is not a defense.
The representative from L.A. Towing was within his rights to tow the four buses. Had he wished to he could have let the fifth and sixth bus park and then towed all of them. Instead of six buses at $2,500 a pop ($15,000), they were allow to pay a total of $400 to remove the chains on the four buses. The fifth bus was told that the other four had been booted and given the opportunity to leave the lot without being booted. All in all, I think that the drivers from Coach Tours were fortunate given the potential cost.
As for the “snooty neighborhood watch program”, I will let the leadership of the South End Civic Association to address that point as they see fit. I would say, however, that what you describe as “snooty and overbearing” was a community leader defending the interests of her neighborhood. The neighborhood is not interested in how much business the Surf Club gets from hosting proms or restaurants get from a dinner check but that a lot that is supposed to be empty once the Home Depot closes is not turned into a truck stop or a holding pen for coach buses and limos.