HOBOKEN – A reporter for National Public Radio who lives in Hoboken interviewed several angry residents about their experiences finding parking in the mile-square city for a piece that aired Tuesday morning.
Sarah Gonzalez, who reports for both WNYC and New Jersey Public Radio (NJPR), described the oddities of Hoboken’s parking situation, like residents who park in the middle of the street waiting for a sweeper to pass so they can retake their space, and the fact that the city gives out 15,000 parking permits for around 9,000 spaces.
Gonzalez interviewed Hoboken residents who said enforcement of the parking codes are too unforgiving and the fines too expensive.
According to Gonzalez, the city generated more than $3.5 million in street sweeping tickets alone as of this past October.
The city also generated $150,000 in residential parking permit fees.
In 2012, all tickets and permits brought about $4.6 million in total revenue, according to NPR.
“It was planned very perfect because let me tell you, you leave it for five minutes, they’ll give you a ticket,” resident Freddie Flores told NPR. “Forty-five bucks they charge you. I remember when it used to be $15.”
The report also shed light on the sheer amount of money that the city generates from that enforcement, which has gone up in the last few years.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who came under scrutiny last summer when the owner of the legendary rock club Maxwell’s said the club would have to close in part because the mayor hadn’t done anything to improve the situation, told NPR she’s working on incorporating parking into a new master plan for the city.
“We can try to incorporate adding more parking garages,” Zimmer said.
The NPR report said in her four years in office, Zimmer has added 850 spaces throughout the city.
She also told the Reporter earlier this year that a number of pilot plans were being unfurled around town to look at ways to change the city’s confusing signs and reduce ticketing, although the matter of the confusing signage was brought to the public’s attention two years ago.
The Reporter story is available here. To listen to NPR’s piece, visit here. – Dean DeChiaro
NPR covers Hoboken’s parking issues
