One of the advantages of living in Hoboken is that it doesn’t cover much geographical territory, so many places are withing walking distance for residents. Of course, many residents work outside of Hoboken, or rely on a personal vehicle for their job, so there are still a lot of cars to park in the city.
The present situation is a little more complicated than in many cities across the fruited plain. Residents have access, for a fee, to permits for parking in certain areas, and there are temporary permits available for visitors and such. There is a complicated system of permit parking with time limits and tows for violations and the like.
There is a move afoot to change all that. A planning firm, Arup, has devised a Parking Master Plan for the expansion and modernizing of the city’s parking situation that will provide sweeping improvements. At least most on the City Council think they are improvements. By a vote of 6-3, they have passed a $5 million bond to implement those changes. The project will be funded by a grant of $879,000 from the state Economic Development Authority.
The main step will be to install automated meters throughout the city, residential areas included. Not to worry! The fees will be for visitors only. Residents can still park free. The alternative seems to have been to raise the practically nominal residential parking permit price to about $300. Most on the Council decided that would be unacceptable.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer concurs with this decision. She indicated that the meters would make the parking rules less confusing. (Meters do seem more “user friendly” than something more nebulous, like “White Sign Zones”.) No matter where one goes, in almost any town, a meter means you have to pay to park there. Mayor Zimmer wants to use the revenue engendered by the meters for improvements in parking garages, resurfacing streets, and the building of new garages.
The bond didn’t pass unchallenged. Some people think that this is not a good move, because it is penalizing the very people on which the local businesses depend for their sustenance. The fear is that it will make people less likely to come here to shop.
What’s your opinion about the coming parking meters?
Eddie