Mott Haven residents are speaking out against the Department of Transportation and a new proposal that they say would make parking impossible in their neighborhood.

Starlyn Reyes has lived in Mott Haven for the past 27 years. Last Tuesday, he received a flyer about a DOT proposal that would change parking on Jackson Avenue. The current two-lane traffic with parking on both sides would be changed to one lane traffic. While the proposal adds two bike access lanes, it removes parking from one side of the street.

"Sometimes people need to wait in their car an hour, an hour and a half, just to get a parking space around here. Imagine if that proposal passes. It's going to be a nightmare around here," Reyes said.

Last week, Reyes spoke out against the proposal at a virtual DOT meeting. He says only about ten people attended and that their complaints were ignored.

His neighbors stress that they aren't against bike lanes in theory, but not at the expense of their parking spaces.

"Before they had this proposal, they needed to come out to the community and find out what our issues and concerns are as a whole, versus just saying we need bike lanes - let's just change this street into a bike lane."

DOT responded to News 12 saying that Jackson Avenue is a critical north-south connection for cyclists.

They add that the proposal will include improvements to advance pedestrian safety, double parking, and traffic congestion.

DOT added, "In order to achieve those objectives while maintaining emergency vehicle and sanitation access, we must remove the parking lane on one side of the corridor. This change and the one-way conversation are not decisions we have taken lightly, and we will continue our outreach to the community as we move closer to implementation and will make adjustments where we can."