Residents say the hallway of a Hoe Avenue apartment building has been turned into a parking lot for dirt bikes.
They say it has been an ongoing issue at 951 Hoe Ave. throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
"This is not a parking garage. We have a parking garage attached to the building. These are outsiders coming in and tenants parking illegal dirt bikes in the building,” said Lattina Brown, community advocate and tenant leader for 941 and 951 Hoe Ave.
Brown says dirt bikes are consistently scattered in the hallway. She says she tweeted her concerns to the mayor about the bikes and smoke detectors.
"We have a lot of seniors and disabled families living in the building and children, so this is starting to become an issue we’ve raised concerns with management Wavecrest for months,” said Brown.
News 12 reached out to Wavecrest, which says safety is its top priority and that no smoke detectors were ever removed. It released a statement saying in part, “Personal property is not permitted to be stored inside common areas including hallways, and we appreciate our resident's concern and vigilant notice... Property managers have attempted to contact the owners of the dirt bikes to have the bikes removed and clear the hallway, and legal notices were sent to reinforce the urgency of removal of the items."
News 12 tried to speak with residents at the building about the issue, but groups of people outside the building were hostile and forced the crew to leave.
Police tell News 12 the bikes are a building management issue and that they’ve had no reports of dirt bike incidents or seizures at the apartment building.