The Dallas Police Department is giving added attention to a quality of life concern in a popular area of the city: illegal parking.
Multiple residents who live along Martel Avenue — between Greenville and Matilda avenues — in the area of Dallas known as the "M Streets" have reached out to NBC DFW in recent weeks to complain about illegal street parking along the north side of Martel.
Multiple signs along the north side of Martel Avenue indicate that there is "No Parking." But photographs sent to NBC DFW show entire rows of cars parked illegally.
The owners of those cars are presumably patronizing local bars and restaurants, according to the neighbors.
In addition to the parking complaints, neighbors have noted that the bar patrons also routinely fight and yell out in the street, and they leave behind broken and empty bottles.
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“It’s hard to wake up in the middle of the night, at 1:30 or 2 in the morning, to hear people screaming right outside of my window,” said Taylor Havins, who has rented an apartment on Martel for just over a year. “We just want a good night’s sleep, honestly.”
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Havins acknowledges that she knowingly moved to an area that is known for its night life, but stressed that she did not anticipate what she considers to a be a lack of respect from the patrons toward the residents.
After Havins and other neighbors first complained, NBC DFW reached out to representatives of the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association (LGNA) who acknowledged they, too, had recently become aware of "disturbances and bad behavior" in that area of the neighborhood.
A representative of the LGNA noted late last week that she would contact the association’s Crime Watch chairman for further information.
Since then, the Dallas Police Department has positioned a mobile electronic sign at the corner of Greenville and Martel, warning people that parking violations would be “strictly enforced.”
In addition, late Sunday night and into early Monday morning, which, according to residents is a particularly popular time for the neighboring bar crowd, multiple tow trucks were seen out along Martel Avenue hooking up illegally parked cars and hauling them away.
