Public space, private use: how Barclays Center relies on parking in Atlantic Avenue drop-off lane and Dean Street sidewalk

As I wrote last month, when asked if the Barclays Center had been granted permission for "combat parking" on Atlantic Avenue where there is a “No Standing Anytime” sign, the response from Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project 
was:

There has been no formal permission granted for parking along Atlantic Avenue. Parking signage is regulated by NYC Department of Transportation and enforced by the NYPD.

But the informal permission continues, as shown in the photos I took last Thursday around the arena, on a Brooklyn Nets game night. 

(Update: I didn't check for placards, but typically in the past I haven't seen placards, such as those granted for city officials, but rather some indication of Barclays ties.)

While it's true that drivers can't continue in the drop-off lane, or even the next lane--to which the parked cars extend--because they're ultimately blocked by the construction of the B4 tower, the drop-off lane has long been used for parking.

Moreover, that casual flouting of the law--crucial to arena operations, it seems--has consequences. As shown in the photo below, parked cars block a fire hydrant.
 

Using the sidewalk for parking

Meanwhile on Dean Street, outside the arena's large secondary entrance, it's typical for a vehicle associated with the arena to park flush to the building along the public sidewalk, as shown in the photo below. 

(Also, as the foreground of the photo indicates, it's not uncommon for vehicles parked in the "pad" outside the elevator entrance to stick out onto the sidewalk.) 

Another view shows the tent where ticketholders are first screened.

The photo below was taken 3/11/21. The extremely non-cordial driver objected to the photo and told me that arena officials had given the OK to park there. That's never been publicly announced, but it seems to be another wink-wink accommodation by public officials to arena encroachment on public space.