One day in late 2007, John Seborowski took a walk around his Jersey City Heights neighborhood, pushing his granddaughter in her stroller, but conditions in the neighborhood soon had him concerned.
What Seborowski encountered during their walk were cars: parked in driveways and sticking out into the street, parked across driveways blocking other cars from getting out, and parked in front of hydrants.
“It’s making it difficult for elderly people, young children, and people with baby carriages to walk on sidewalks because they have to walk on the street to walk around these cars,” Seborowski said. “And it continually gets worse, because one person gets away with it, and more then do it. “
He also says that new multi-level houses being built on his Columbia Avenue block and on nearby blocks were worsening the illegal parking problem. The driveways for these new buildings mean more curb cuts and less on-street parking. On top of that, Seborowski says he often sees cars not parked in the garages, but rather in the driveways and streets.
That’s when Seborowski decided to document a problem he says can be solved by enforcement from various city authorities.
He started taking photos of various offensive parking situations at different times during 2008. Then, he went before the City Council occasionally last year to bring up the issue and submit the photos he took, and he did it again last month. He also recruited City Councilman Steve Lipski to take a trip last year in various parts of the city to document examples of illegal parking.
But Seborowski would rather not be the only one to take the lead.
“Hopefully, [Mayor Jerramiah Healy] will do something about this,” said Seborowski, who planned to meet with Healy on Thursday, since he sees the problem continuing. He planned to recommend that people receive warnings first, then tickets.
You call that legal?
Photos taken by Seborowski during the day and night show cars hanging out into the street at residences that have garages, or driveways that lead to parking space in the back of the house. There was even one photo showing a car parked directly at the front entrance of one house.
Of course, it is possible that the cars in these photos may have just been parked there temporarily. So is Seborowski making too big a deal of an issue likely to spring up in a city of 240,000 residents?
No, says City Councilwoman Mary Spinello, who has seen the photos. Spinello says that there is validity to Seborowski’s complaint.
The Jersey City Parking Authority in 2008 issued 3,371 tickets for people parking at fire hydrants.
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Spinello plans to study it further when she takes over this week as the new executive director of the Jersey City Parking Authority (see related story).
The Jersey City Parking Authority in 2008 issued 3,371 tickets for people parking at fire hydrants and 1,968 tickets for parking in driveways.
Ferdinand Picariello, Director of Enforcement for the Parking Authority, said the tickets issued for hydrants are based on what Parking Authority employees see. The tickets for blocking driveways are based on complaints. The tickets for illegal parking at hydrants and driveways are $52, with towing fees incurred by those who park at hydrants.
Many of the complaints addressed by the Parking Authority occur between the hours of 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with the rest of the time covered by the Police Department.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.