Stroller traffic causing tension among neighbors in apartments

Strollers, carriages cluttering the hallways and lobby in buildings is resulting in apartment wars. Growing stroller population in most building’s is becoming a source of tension among neighbors.

Related: Parking and commuting challenges faced by stroller owners.

Tyler Moore has a wife, two daughters, two strollers, a wagon, a scooter, a mini balance bike — and a small, walk-up apartment in Astoria. To avoid feeling like he’s living in a hoarder’s den, Moore would sometimes colonize the landing outside his apartment with his family’s various modes of transportation.

But some people did mind that. The Moores, along with few more young families in the building, are currently butting heads with others in the apartment about the plethora of carriages cluttering the hallways and lobby.

“I understand why someone would be mad. But the reality is that they take up so much space inside the apartment,” says Moore.

As families struggle to cram their kids and all their gear into tiny spaces, they sometimes roll their prams into common spaces — often flagrantly breaking fire codes, which forbid bicycles, baby strollers and other items from being stored in building corridors.

It’s a prevalent enough issue that some new apartment buildings now have space designated specifically for stroller parking. Some luxury projects even boasts of its own “stroller valets,” who will store your kid’s chariot and fetch it for you whenever you’re ready to go for a walk.

Unfortunately, most people living in cities aren’t so lucky.

Parents usually fold up their strollers and toss them at the bottom of the stairwell, bothering some residents. Besides, strollers are often dirty and stinky, and that doesn’t help either.

Childless residents complained that it was unfair that only some individuals (the ones with kids) got to take advantage of what was supposed to be a shared space.

In some cases, landlord install a rack for families to hang their strollers, which improved things only marginally. It’s not always feasible to fold your stroller and then lift it over the railing while holding your baby. Some carriages languish in the lobby for hours until a parent’s partner would get home and hang it up.

Moore says that the families in his building, as well, have recently reached an agreement with their landlord about the stroller situation: Each unit can store one stroller in the building’s lobby.

Once resident, who suffers from chronic back pain, tripped over her neighbors’ stroller while getting out of the elevator in her building a month ago. When she complained, they called her unneighborly. “It’s very rude, the hallways should not be used as a closet. They are clearly saying, ‘This is too ugly to put in our home, but not too ugly for us to stick in your face,’ I just want to be able to walk into my own home without tripping!”

Source: nypost.com