Brooklyn yeshiva cops traffic

Some hasidim in Williamsburg, Brooklyn seem to be telling people where they can park it — and it’s not in front of Yeshiva Bnos Ahavas Israel on Franklin Avenue.

The sudden appearance of a no-parking sign in front of the school has driven city bus drivers and passengers to anger, as a nearby Metropolitan Transit Authority bus stop has been squeezed out of the space by the yeshiva’s school buses that line up (illegally) along the curb.

“Two Jewish guys were moving the pole. I saw them resetting it. They had fresh cement and made it look professionally done,” city bus driver Jamar Perry told the New York Post. He suspects the hasidic culprits took a sign that had fallen over after being hit by a car around the corner on Flushing Avenue and erected in front of the school.

The Yeshiva claimed that its school buses had no choice but park in front of the school, in order to ensure students’ safety upon boarding and disembarking.

MTA bus drivers and passengers are asking why their safety isn’t also of concern. “To catch the bus, you have to go to the middle of the street and shake your hands. All the people are having the same problem,” said one commuter.

Yoel Felberbaum, one of the school bus drivers, agreed that the situation isn’t ideal, but didn’t seem to think it was up to the yeshiva to improve it. “It doesn’t make sense. They should move the [city] bus stop,” he suggested.

Both the Department of Transportation and the MTA said they would assign someone to look into the problem on that stretch of Franklin Avenue.

However, if the contention of Tommy McNally, a safety officer from the Transit Workers Union, that sign-swapping “is a common problem in the Hasidic community” is true, then there may not be a quick fix.

“These guys are just constantly moving these signs,” McNally said.