HOBOKEN — As recently reported in the Hoboken Reporter, the city has stepped up parking enforcement and plans to more vigorously enforce the rule saying that people without permits can’t park on city streets for more than four hours. (They can park in city garages if they need to, or use meters for a time, or get a visitor parking permit if they’re visiting a resident.) What the signs don’t make clear – and many people don’t realize – is that the four hours applies to parking in the entire town on a given day, not just parking in one spot. If you park without a permit for three hours and then park across town for two hours, you can still get booted.
The city’s intention, officials said months ago, was to free up parking for visitors using local businesses. Hoboken has numerous popular shops and acclaimed restaurants. In fact, the city announced earlier on Monday that they are offering lots of free parking specials now through the holidays. (click to find out more.) But apparently, there are problems that lead to incorrect booting.
When Fox 5 investigated for its 10 o’clock report Monday night, they found out that people who park for a few minutes, leave town, and come back hours later are sometimes being incorrectly booted, as if they were here the whole time. Fox 5 found new residents and visitors who made that complaint, so they tried it with an undercover van of their own. They parked in Hoboken for a few minutes, spent time in Edgewater, and returned later — only to be booted within an hour of their return.
When the van was booted, the newscaster showed receipts to the Parking Utility worker receipts to prove he’d been in Edgewater, and the worker said he would have to fight it in court.
The Fox 5 report also showed a man receiving a ticket for not paying a meter machine, even though the signage didn’t tell him that the machine was far up the block and not close to where he parked.
The report then showed that Hoboken boasted on its website of increasing revenues via the Parking Utility, by as much as $1 million from 2009 to 2010.
The Fox 5 reporter interviewed Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who said that the city’s signs were beyond what the state law mandated. But she then said that resident feedback is important, and she’ll look into it.
Recently, the Hoboken Reporter reported on a different situation — a man who had his parking ticket dropped, but the city refused to reimburse him for the towing fee.
Will these loopholes be closed, or the signage changed? Any updates will be published.
What do you think? Comment below!
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