Monday, May 22, 2017

Club Cars -- Are They Legal or Illegal?


We know what the answer is via Management: they are legal, at least within this community. But hold on. Doesn't the city say something different?

Most of us residents have been passed by a Club Car, going whichever way, with or against PCVST traffic. There is one usually parked off the Leasing Office to take people around if the apartment is a distance away or for some reason such as walking is too tiring. And we have seen Club Cars head against the traffic and even cross a red light on one of the "islands." (One would think that an island is already city property, as is the area between PCV and ST.)

One of my issues is with these Club Cars (sometimes called "Golf Carts"), which, btw, were never used in the "old days."

This is another region of the country, but:

"A golf cart is a vehicle with three or more wheels, goes only 15 mph, holds only two persons and golf equipment. An electric cart, or ‘low-speed electric vehicle,’ is a ‘motor vehicle’ by definition used to transport persons or materials. It can go up to 20 mph.... No motor vehicle can be driven on a public sidewalk. A golf cart is only allowed on the sidewalk in the immediate area of a golf course and then only to cross from one portion to the other."

Now this is what the city, via NY state, says:

https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/motorized-devices-cannot-be-registered-new-york

What vehicles cannot be registered or operated on New York State sidewalks, streets or highways?You cannot register or operate any of the motorized devices from the list below on any street, highway, parking lot, sidewalk or other area in New York State that allows public motor vehicle traffic. You may be arrested if you do.
  • Motorized Scooter - a device with a motor attached and a handlebar for a standing rider. An example of a motorized scooter is the device called the Go-ped®.
  • Mini-bike - a small, motorized device with two wheels and created for off-road use. A mini-bike doesn’t qualify as a moped, a motorcycle or an ATV.
  • Off-road Motorcycle (Dirt Bike) - A motorcycle designed for use on off-road trails or in off-road competitions.  Unless exempt, these vehicles must be registered as an ATV.  See register an ATV for more information.
  • Go-Kart - a small, motorized device with four wheels, created for off-road use. You can’t register a go-kart as a motor vehicle or ATV because a go-kart doesn’t have the same equipment.
  • Golf Cart (also referred to as Golf Car or Neighborhood Electric Vehicle) - a small motorized device with four wheels designed to carry people.  You can’t register a golf cart as an ATV.  Many low speed vehicles are similar in appearance to a golf cart, and can be registered and driven on New York State highways. 1
  • Motor-assisted Bicycle - a bicycle to which a small motor is attached. A motor-assisted bicycle doesn’t qualify for a registration as a motorcycle, moped or ATV and doesn’t have the same equipment.
For a low speed vehicle to be registered in New York
  • it must meet federal motor vehicle safety standard 500 (49 CFR 571.500)
  • its maximum performance speed must be certified by the manufacturer
  • it must appear on the list of approved limited use vehicles
You can contact NYS DMV Technical Services (518-474-5282, select option #4) to determine if a particular LSV or LSVT is certified and approved.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

In a bit of irony, in defending a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of an infant tenant injured while riding his bike near a temporary sidewalk shed, at the trial, Stuy Town introduced evidence over objection attempting to inculpate the parents of the infant for allowing the child to ride his bike on the sidewalk in violation of the lease. Guess the rule about bikes on pedestrian pathways only matters to Stuy Town lawyers when they want to deny an injured child compensation. See; Kelly v Metropolitan Ins. & Annuity Co., 82 A.D.3d 16 (1st Dep't 2011). Workers are free to ride bikes on sidewalk and those club cars look like so much less pedaling is involved. Would not want management to expend energy traveling around the grounds. They might have to smell the dog pee.

Anonymous said...

4:06
If MetLife would stoop that low, I don't even want to know how low Blackstone would stoop in a similar case.

Anonymous said...

WHAT ABOUT THE BLACK MOLD

WHAT ABOUT THE OVERCHARGES

Anonymous said...

Private property, ANYTHING GOES! Just take a look around. What a joke............

Anonymous said...


Posted on Facebook, PCVST


To the person who left a used tampon in the stairwell of a Stuyvesant Town building: What were you thinking? Please explain how you could possibly justify behavior so profoundly disrespectful--to the porters who work very hard to maintain these buildings, and to your fellow residents like me who use the stairs for their intended purpose, to go up and down through the building. I felt bad that I could not clean this up, but I don't have latex gloves and was afraid to come in contact with the bodily fluids of someone so clearly lacking in judgment.
This is not acceptable. Go right now and clean up after yourself. And do not ever do this again.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Private property, ANYTHING GOES!<<

That's the impression that's given. But is it true? I know that the city has spoken, but that's been some time ago. Perhaps it is time to revisit this ownership? Certainly, one would think that the city's rules override Blackstone. We don't use NYC traffic cops anymore. Why?

Anonymous said...

No matter what, 20th street between 1st and C is not private, and they MUST follow city law in their vehicles. This means golf cart, bike, SUV, etc. NYPD should stop to write tickets for the violators on 20th, but they never will.

Anonymous said...

Golf carts symbolize NYC real estate and all who have wreaked havoc across NYC communities. Golf and golf cart loving nitwits.

is former Mayor Bloomberg with all this Russia news? He is largely responsible for the demise of this community while famously professing his love for a city filled only with Russian Oligarchs.

Golf cart loving, oligarch pandering men are changing the face and skyline of NYC. Moral of the story, wealthier neighbors does not equate to high-quality neighbors. The littered grounds here sure show that and cough, cough, ahem, they are students.

A few of his gems:
“If we could get every billionaire around the world to move here, it would be a godsend"
"Mr. Bloomberg, who has been criticized by Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio for turning New York into a “tale of two cities,” doubled down on his message this morning, arguing that the best way to help the poor is for the city to accumulate more of the ultra-rich."

http://observer.com/2013/09/mayor-bloomberg-wants-city-to-have-every-billionaire/


These are his kind of peeps:

New York Times 2015
"On the 74th floor of the Time Warner Center, Condominium 74B was purchased in 2010 for $15.65 million by a secretive entity called 25CC ST74B L.L.C. It traces to the family of Vitaly Malkin, a former Russian senator and banker who was barred from entering Canada because of suspected connections to organized crime.

Last fall, another shell company bought a condo down the hall for $21.4 million from a Greek businessman named Dimitrios Contominas, who was arrested a year ago as part of a corruption sweep in Greece.

A few floors down are three condos owned by another shell company, Columbus Skyline L.L.C., which belongs to the family of a Chinese businessman and contractor named Wang Wenliang. His construction company was found housing workers in New Jersey in hazardous, unsanitary conditions."

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/nyregion/stream-of-foreign-wealth-flows-to-time-warner-condos.html


Same type of neighbors at another Tower
"On the 78th floor: a Russian who once was accused of mob ties and extortion by an oligarch. On the 79th, an Uzbek jeweler investigated for money laundering who was eventually executed on the street in Manhattan. And four floors higher, a pro-Moscow Ukrainian politician whose party hired a Donald Trump adviser."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-16/behind-trump-s-russia-romance-there-s-a-tower-full-of-oligarchs


New York Times The two Mikes
"Billionaires at Play: Mike Versus Mikhail"
"New York’s reigning billionaire, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, cares little for most sports but plays a lot of golf. He likes discreet dinner parties at Gracie Mansion or his own mansion. He wants his private life kept private.

New York’s latest billionaire, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, loves basketball, kickboxing and skiing. He probably wishes his private life could be kept private: Consider the four days he spent in custody in an Alpine ski resort in 2007 when investigators suspected call girls were being brought in. He was quoted as saying they were students and models, not prostitutes."


"the top 100 of Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. Together, they boast an estimated net worth of 118.2 billion."
https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/revealed-the-russian-billionaires-in-bloombergs-top-100-richest-people-57344

The StuyTown deal attracts the same target market to invest, develop here.

Anonymous said...

85% of sales on Billionaire's row are to foreigners.

Anonymous said...

No matter what, 20th street between 1st and C is not private, and they MUST follow city law in their vehicles. This means golf cart, bike, SUV, etc. NYPD should stop to write tickets for the violators on 20th, but they never will.

The 13th precinct and it's legacy captain are as incompetent as is Rick Heydick and company. Neither give a shit about residents of PCVST!

SPS should get t-shirts with their motto: If it weren't for inCOMPETENCE there wouldn't be any competence at SPS. They could make a fortune selling those and PigSty Town hoodies!

Barry Shapiro said...

I ran this bike business down several months. Might be worth repeating.

2 DOT reps and 2 13th precinct community affairs officers told me that public or private...doesn't matter...bike riding on the sidewalks is illegal.

However, DOT agents and NYPD officers will not come onto private property to enforce this law. Why? I can only guess. First, according to the 4th amendment of the constitution (yes, the constitution), law enforcement must either have a search warrant or reasonable cause to enter. Well, I don't think the 13th is going to apply for any kind of search warrant or hang around the outside waiting for reasonable cause. And second, I'm sure they have bigger fish to fry.

All of which means that it would be up to Hayduk and PS to enforce the law which clearly they have no intention of doing.

And so there the matter sits. I have written to everyone relevant that at the very least, Hayduk's stated policy encourages the commission of violations and city officials could intervene such that the policy is taken out of all signage and management documents. And of course, no response from Hayduk, NYPD legal or the DOT.

You'll note that the relevant admin code states that bike riding is permitted wherever an "official" sign allows.

I wrote to DOT legal and NYPD legal for a clarification. If we're talking about private property, is a sign posted by the property owner considered "official" or does "official" mean issued by the DOT or NYPD? And here's the response I got.

A DOT rep with whom I became a little friendly said...the reps was specifically told by DOT management not to respond to my inquiry. Thank you very much.

And some low level flunky in NYPD legal gave me non-responsive response and when I pushed for her to actually answer my question, she stopped responded.

And that's what I have seen forthcoming from city agencies in general. Where legislators have left loopholes in the law, expect no response of city agencies. (The issue of incompetent legislating is a whole separate matter.)

As a perfunctory matter (just to dot the i's), I spoke to someone in Garodnick's office who was equally evasive.

So there you have it. I think it comes down to this. Unless you have a councilman who cares about quality of life issues and is willing to stand with majorities against special interests, then years from now...long after this post has been forgotten...you'll be complaining about the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Management doesn't care if pedestrians get mowed down. They have that feudal mentality that laughs as the King's horses crush the pesty peasants under their hooves.

Anonymous said...

Apparently Golf Cart vehicles are for the physically weak who don't have the stamina to walk alongside their peers.
'Out Of Step' Trump Takes Golf Cart While Rest Of G-7 Leaders Walk
https://www.yahoo.com/news/apos-step-apos-trump-takes-035047655.html

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Is this a way to introduce our current President? Nice try, but it is fairly innocuous for now, or it could be my cheery mood. LOL.

Actually, "golf cars" or club cars are all over this property, more now than ever it seems.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

To make it fair, some very popular politicians from "the other side" would need golf carts, too. Including a potential Madame President. LOL.

Anonymous said...

May 24, 2017 at 7:51 AM nice work, you proved the corruption goes up high to the top levels at DOT and above DOT. A public servant told to ignore a constituent is a public servant who is in bed playing footsie with wealthy special interests.