The Hoboken Parking Utility introduced a new enforcement tool a month ago: a Dodge minivan with two infrared cameras and a computer to check vehicles for expired residential permits. The van also identifies cars without any permits that are parked for more than four hours in Hoboken.
According to Hoboken Parking Utility Director John Corea, the van is expected to generate an additional $800,000 in revenue for the city in its first year alone.
The van, which cost the city approximately $23,000, is using technology valued at about $90,000, which is being provided free of charge by Paylock Inc., a parking enforcement and collection agency based out of Somerville, N.J.
One violation that may be increasingly enforced is the situation of people parking for more than four hours anywhere in Hoboken without a permit. Even if those drivers move to another spot, they can still be ticketed if they are in town for more than four hours. The van will be able to record license plate numbers of those parked without a permit, and it can identify those cars if they are still in town four hours later.
When asked if this will have a negative effect on local businesses, since visitors may be eating and shopping at local establishments for more than four hours, Corea said it would not, because visitors who want to stay longer can use a garage or get a one-day pass from the Hoboken Parking Utility office in Town Hall, even without knowing a resident.
“We were already enforcing it,” Corea said last week. “It’s nothing new. We’re just going to be able to do it more efficiently.”
Business owner concerned
One local business owner, Bob Mahnken, who is the president of Hoboken’s Chamber of Commerce, disagreed.
“Sure it will have an adverse effect on businesseses,” he said, “which struggle as it is to bring people into Hoboken. A lot of people don’t realize that’s the law.”
Mahnken added that many towns have municipal parking lots for customers who frequent local businesses, whereas Hoboken does not. “The city needs to address parking for businesses, and they’re not doing that,” he said.
Most (but not all) residential streets in Hoboken have resident-only on one side, and permit parking on the other. Permit parking zones allow various types of permits: multiple-day visitor permits, one-day hang-tag permits, or business employees’ permits. All of those permits can be purchased at the HPU office. Other cars can stay in permit parking zones for up to four hours without a permit.
With every $195 boot, $50 goes directly to Paylock for the use of its equipment, while $100 goes to the city and the remaining $45 is split between the city and the state as a result of the summons that accompanies the boot.
According to Corea, the parking utility currently boots approximately 27 cars per day. With the van, he expects to double that number by the end of the year.
Booting decisions
Before the van was launched, the task of booting vehicles for violations fell on the parking enforcement officers, who often had to wait for a boot to be delivered to their location before they could proceed to other duties.
Corea anticipates that because of the van’s booting efficiency, officers patrolling the streets will have more time to write tickets for other violations, such as parking on corners, in loading zones, at bus stops, and at expired meters. The violations described above are enforceable both by police officers and by parking enforcement officers.
Currently, a parking enforcement officer is given a specific area for his or her beat, which consists of an eight-hour shift. However, the van can cover the entire city in less than one hour, though Corea said it generally takes closer to two hours when you factor in interruptions, such as the issuing of summonses.
According to Corea, the most advantageous aspect of the new technology is the city’s ability to enforce the four-hour limit rule to vehicles lacking a resident or business parking permit.
A common misconception of the four-hour regulation for non-residents is they only have to move their car to another location so to avoid a boot; however, the actual ordinance allows for only four hours per day inside the entire city of Hoboken, according to Corea.
With the new technology, the parking enforcement employee operating the van will record non-residential license plates during a morning sweep, recording the time and location of the vehicle. The computer records the information and if that same car is found anywhere in the city four hours later it is booted.
Years ago, enforcement officers used a chalking system, in which they either literally chalked a tire in a certain location to indicate that the car was parked at that location at a certain time. More recently, enforcement officers used handheld devices to do the same task electronically. But when the employee’s shift ended, the record of who was parked where also ended. With the van, the Parking Utility is able to keep a record of which car is where for the entire day.
“The current system we have through this van is a tremendous improvement on what we had in the past,” said Corea. “By increasing enforcement, we’re not only increasing revenue for the city; we’re also going to see a greater turn around of spaces, creating more available spaces for residents who don’t have to abide by the four-hour limit.”
In addition to Hoboken, the same technology is currently being used by Jersey City; Richmond, Va. and Providence, R.I. according to Paylock Account Administrator Clinton Wheeler.
How the van works
The van currently operates Monday through Saturday 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The infrared cameras allow the enforcement officers to operate at any visibility level throughout the night.
In the morning, two Parking Utility employees drive the van throughout the city, recording the license plates in the van’s computer, which are then compared with plate numbers registered with the city in the Parking Utility’s database. If an unregistered car or a car with an expired permit is parked on a resident-only street, they’re booted.
In addition, the computer records the unregistered plates of vehicles parked in four-hour areas, so a sweep conducted later that day can reveal cars that have been parked there for longer than the allowed time limit.
According to Paylock Account Administrator Clinton Wheeler, who accompanied this reporter on the ride during the interview, another violation caught by the new system is the misuse of permits.
Corea said that in the future, there may be plans to have the van operate 24 hours, seven days a week. When asked what would happen if someone came into town in the middle of the night or Sunday and could not get a visitor permit because the HPU offices are closed during those times, Corea noted that they could get hangtags in advance or use a city garage.
In an emergency, or if a person’s car was booted in the early morning hours, the individual would be able to call Paylock at anytime of day or night, according to Corea, to get the boot off.
Using your resident permit illegally
In many cases, resident permits are found on cars with license plates that do not coincide with that of the resident who purchased the actual permit.
Often, the violator is found to be a friend or associate of the resident, who is believed to have given or possibly sold the permit illegally to the non-resident so that they can take advantage of the resident parking privileges.
Police are notified when such a situation takes place, leading to a criminal investigation into the matter. According to Corea, while it is often difficult to prove in court wrongdoing on the part of the resident, the non-resident is generally fined up to $1,500 for using the permit illegally, and can face community service if found guilty.
There have also been several cases in Hoboken’s past of people creating their own counterfeit permit.
Removing the boot
Ninety-five percent of boots are removed by the individual themselves, said Corea, in a process in which the violator gives their credit card number to a Paylock representative over the phone, and they are given a code and have 24 hours to return the boot to a city garage at 215 Hudson St.
However, there are some cases where a person manages to remove the boot without the code and without paying Paylock.
In such cases, since the license is recorded by the Parking Utility enforcement officer, the information attained through the plate number is used to identify and locate the person, who is subsequently sent bills through the mail, not only for their lack of payment, but also their failure to return the boot, which results in a $25 a day fine until the boot is returned.
If the payment is not made in a reasonable amount of time, the courts will ultimately suspend the person’s license and registration.
By the end of the year, Corea added that the same technology currently being used by the Parking Utility to ticket and boot vehicles will be able to assist in police investigations, including locating cars that are being sought by law enforcement authorities or those that have been mentioned over the AMBER alert system.
Michael Mullins can be reached at mmullins@hudsonreporter.com.