Dear Editor:
Is the city really going to install hundreds of those ugly, black parking-meter boxes up and down all of our residential streets? Tearing up the sidewalks and probably uprooting some trees on some of the most beautiful residential streets in the country would be an act of desecration. Does any other city put parking meters in its best residential neighborhoods? You don’t see them in Greenwich Village, even on Fifth Avenue. These hulking black boxes would be a permanent blight on our neighborhoods. Whenever anyone around town hears of this plan, as word slowly seeps out, they’re appalled. Did the six City Council members who voted for this check with any of their neighbors?
To make matters worse, installing meters along every residential street would cost taxpayers $5 million. It seems as though every month the city is approving another unnecessary multi-million-dollar bond issue. It’s no wonder city taxes went up again this year, given all the debt that must be paid.
And what exactly is the problem that this boondoggle is supposed to fix? It certainly won’t free up any spaces in residential areas. City vehicles already go up and down each residential street to make sure visitors aren’t parked for longer than four hours. Mayor Dawn Zimmer says metering every street will remove the ambiguity that led to cars being booted in the past. The city’s overzealous booting program turned out to be illegal under state law but the solution is merely to ticket the cars, not overreact by spending $5 million to implant unsightly meters on every residential street and start charging even more people for parking. Visiting diners and shoppers are already wary enough of coming to Hoboken. Sure, politicians always like to develop another revenue stream, but isn’t our $108 million budget bloated enough? Other towns our size spend millions less.
Metering our residential streets may reduce ambiguity for visitors, but will it increase ambiguity for residents? Zimmer says residents won’t have to feed the meters on residential streets, but how will those meters be different from the ones downtown and on commercial streets, where residents have always had to pay up?
Kudos to council members Beth Mason, Tim Occhipinti and Theresa Castellano for voting against this ill-advised move. Can we get one more council member to step up and block the damage that this project will do?
Sincerely,
John Koppisch
Maureen Sullivan