Court Backs Motorcycle Ban

Ronald Nuzzo, 49, owner of a 1986 Yamaha, doesn’t think of himself as a menacing biker type. Heck, there’s not a single distressed black leather motorcycle jacket in his closet.

“I lead a very low-profile existence,” he said. “I’m not one of the Hell’s Angels.”

That was of no consequence to a panel of judges in the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court who earlier this month upheld his condominium’s ban on motorcycles.

The ban was added to the condominium’s by-laws in 1993, more than a year after Nuzzo moved in. It was clearly directed at Nuzzo, since he has the sole motorcycle in his complex at Jefferson Village in Yorktown Heights.

Jefferson Village is a sprawling adult condominium community where many of the residents are in their 70s, 80s and beyond. Nuzzo’s motorcycle was apparently considered a nuisance even if, as he says, it was parked by 4 p.m. most days.

“Many people here sleep during the day,” said John Tornese, 86, a member of the condominium’s board who hailed the decision. “The noise was a little too much for them, and they were afraid to cross the street with a motorcycle around.”

But Nuzzo, who maintains he was never warned that his bike was a problem before the ban, says his motorcycle has full mufflers. Besides, he says, the electric wheelchairs that whiz around the complex present a far bigger danger than his Yamaha.

“The wheelchairs have no lights,” he said, and residents ride them just before dusk, when they are difficult to spot.