A Queens neighborhood where a rowdy car meetup erupted into violence has been promised speed bumps — but locals wonder if they’ll solve the area’s plague of speeding cars.
City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino claimed Queens Department of Transportation Borough Commissioner Nicole Garcia gave her a verbal promise Tuesday that speed bumps would be installed near 141st Street and 11th Avenue — after residents had asked the city for traffic-calming in the area for at least four years.
“I have never spoken to my commissioner like this before. I demanded, demanded, I will not tolerate this,” Paladino said.
A DOT spokesperson could not confirm new speed bumps will be installed.
“NYC DOT is looking into potential safety options and re-evaluating the locations where this illegal behavior took place over the weekend,” the spokesperson said Thursday.
Paladino fired back “they can look into all they want.”
“I can promise you I’m going to make more noise than anybody has ever heard before, and I can guarantee there will be speed bumps in Malba,” Paladino told The Post.
The speed bump discussion comes days after dozens of cars flooded the quiet Queens enclave around 12:30 a.m. Sunday for an illegal meetup on South Drive and 141st Street, with drivers racing, doing donuts and lighting fireworks before a vehicle was set on fire.
Video of the rowdy meetup shows homeowner Blake Ferrer being beaten and kicked by an angry mob who broke his nose and his ribs. His wife, Melissa, was also punched in the face after the couple told the rowdy mob to move people off their property.
Melissa told The Post she’s for the slowdown, but would prefer people to have more civility in the first place.
“We are definitely, obviously, for the speed bumps,” Melissa said Wednesday. “I don’t think in the end I should have to drive everywhere with speed bumps. I think people should be more civil.
“How about we just go back to the basics? Everybody should go to church, have some respect for people,” she added. “We have to get back to the basic rhythms of life.”
The Ferrers’ neighbors were also shaken over the violence. Longtime Malba resident Teresa Maher, 81, wasn’t sure the speed humps would be enough to stop another angry mob.
“I don’t know if it would help, but it should do something,” Maher said.
Maher said she’s still worried over the possibility the violent attackers — who are still on the loose — will return for more shenanigans.
“I hope they do get them, because they’ll probably come back again,” Maher told The Post.
Maher said she has lived in the neighborhood more than half her life, but she has never seen fiery violence like that near her home before.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Maher said. “It’s a shame to see. There was no need for that.”
Lulu, out for an afternoon walk Wednesday, told The Post she noticed speeders have been blowing through the once-quiet neighborhood since last summer.
“The neighborhood was so beautiful, but times are changing,” Lulu, who is in favor of the speed humps, said.
“Of course they’ll come back if there are no consequences to bear,” she said of the speeders.
George Katakalides. who works as a food distributor and lives in the neighborhood, said he was annoyed the city is only considering action now that people have been injured.
“People complained before and nothing happened. People got hurt and something had to be done,” Katakalides said.
“I didn’t go out because I’m a hot-blooded Greek. I would have been involved,” the 74-year-old said, adding he watched from his window as 10 to 15 cars blocked the streets
The longtime Queens resident thinks the neighborhood has gotten so bad that residents should be allowed to arm themselves with guns.
“The guy went out with a bat to protect his house and his family,” Katakalides said. “Everybody’s gotta wear a gun. If every one of my neighbors had a gun, I don’t think they would have done that,” he said.
His 27-year-old granddaughter, Katerina Katakalides, said she can barely remember a time when there weren’t speeders in her family’s neighborhood.
“Since I was a kid, and even six years ago, people would be coming down the wrong way, 80 miles an hour, racing. This has been happening my entire life. This is the first time anyone has paid attention,” Katerina said.
“I fall asleep to the screeches. It’s not as peaceful as you think it is,” she said. “To live in Malba is to live among recklessness,” she added.
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