DUMBO ice cream trucks flaunt rules, make residents miserable — and haul in the bucks
The din is constant, the fumes are sickening and residents of Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood say they’ve had it with illegally-parked, diesel-belching ice cream trucks.
They’re also fed up with elected officials who have done nothing about their complaints for more than a year. They’re particularly frustrated with City Councilmember Stephen Levin, who, they say, has been backing the ice cream vendors and actively working to get their fines reduced.
Trucks owned by Mr. Softee, Brooklyn Ice Cream and other brands park in crosswalks, at hydrants, in bicycle lanes, next to DUMBO’s Open Restaurants and in no-parking zones with their motors running for 10 hours or more every day, according to neighbors. If confronted by police, the trucks just drive around the block and return to the same spot when the coast is clear.