Truck traffic in the wee hours has residents ready to rumble

Residents of a 108-unit building in Kingsbridge are furious about nightly truck noise at a nearby store, complaining that idling diesel engines, horns sounding and workers unloading cargo have deprived them of sleep throughout the past two years.

“I’m aging – fast,” resident Maria Capellan, who owns a daycare, said at a recent public meeting of the police Community Council in the 50th Precinct. “My eyes are red and I’m walking like I’m on drugs. People look at me and they don’t want to leave their kids with me. They think I’m a drug addict.”

Ms. Capellan and about 30 other residents of 3410 Kingsbridge Ave. say anywhere from one to three trucks at a time make continuous deliveries to the Deals store at 5687 Broadway at least three nights a week from approximately 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Video of the store provided to The Press by a resident of 3410 Kingsbridge Ave. shows trucks making deliveries late at night, although details in the tape are difficult to discern.

Ms. Capellan said the manager of Deals has told her there is nothing he can do and that to date, authorities have ignored her pleas for help. The manager did not return calls requesting comment.

Ms. Capellan said she has sent letters to Deals, Community Board 8, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corporation, but says she has not received any response.

She added that recent phone calls to the police resulted in shouting matches with officers informing her they have no authority to stop the truck drivers from making their deliveries.

However, after Ms. Capellan made an impassioned speech at the Community Council meeting last Thursday, Capt. Paul Rasa immediately pledged to work to solve the problem.

“I understand exactly why everybody’s here and I’m going to work with you,” he told the audience, which included about a dozen of Ms. Capellan’s neighbors. “We’re definitely going to speak with the owner.”

Another police official at the meeting suggested arranging mediation between the residents and the owner and manager of Deals.