Scharge grew up in his current home at 23-10 Waters Edge Drive, which was built in 1967 and which he inherited from his parents. “This has been going on for years. Every time the city needs revenue, they come around here.” He said that the Department of Transportation told him to park his Chevrolet Tahoe in the garage, but it doesn’t fit.
   “We never see a cop car except to get a ticket,” he added.
   “One department approves, another one tickets,” said Councilman Tony Avella during a walk through the Beechwood Park section of Bay Terrace, which includes Waters Edge Drive, where Scharge lives, 215th Street, and 23rd Avenue. “This has been a problem in the past.”
   According to Avella, the Department of Buildings approved a development in the 1960s where few driveways are long enough to park a car, let alone today’s sport utility vehicles.
   He pointed to the wide roadway. “The only traffic through here is residents. Why couldn’t they have made the road slightly narrower?”
   Avella had negotiated a deal with the city not to ticket homeowners as long as residents have pulled up to their garage, their vehicle doesn’t extend more than six inches over the driveway and it isn’t blocking the sidewalks.
   Meanwhile Scharge is left wondering why he’s been targeted and not others.
   Scharge and Avella took a brief walk on Saturday around the quiet cul-de-sac, bordered on one side by the Cross Island Parkway and Little Neck Bay, and on the other by high-rise apartment buildings. There were vehicles in violation of the six-inch rule at almost every house.
   “We need to apply the spirit of law, not letter of law,” said Avella, who is working on getting the tickets from 2003 and 2004 dismissed. “The city shouldn’t chase revenue at homeowners’ expense.”
   Scharge is delighted to have the media in his neighborhood. He has tried to fight the tickets on his own, but has gotten nowhere.
   He believes that without publicity, the city will continue to target his driveway.
   Scharge thinks that one officer was responsible for all his tickets. “Where’s the traffic?,” he asked, “It’s not like we’re on a busy street.”
   Given the number of potential violations in this neighborhood, Avella warned that the neighbors can’t afford to be lazy. He pointed to a blue Avalon that was over by more than a couple of inches, but wasn’t pulled up flush with the garage. “They’re entitled to ticket this,” he said.
   The Department of Buildings had no comment on approving the driveways and the NYPD had no comment on the tickets.