All of the commissioners at the Hoboken Parking Authority are given one parking permit so that they can park in any city garage for free. Commissioner Donald Pellicano, a 24-year veteran of the board, has used two permits for several years now and has been forced to return one to the HPA’s executive director.
At the Sept. 24 Hoboken Parking Authority meeting, City Council president and Pellicano critic Tony Soares called for Pellicano to give up his extra parking pass.
"Yeah, I have two passes," Pellicano admitted at the meeting. "I have two cars."
Pellicano’s admission turned a contentious parking meeting even more volatile. It escalated an already-caustic series of name calling arguments between Pellicano and Commissioner Alan Cohen.
"I was angry at him and understandably so," said Cohen later about his outbursts. "Yes, I was upset, but I was only reacting to his actions, which were reprehensible."
Pellicano defended his having two passes by saying that he rarely uses the passes, and the only reason that he had two was to save the convenience of having to switch them between his two cars.
"I had two passes, and they wanted me to return one, so I did," said Pellicano a week ago Friday. He returned the second pass that Friday. "I’ve had the two for years now, but I rarely if ever park both cars in the garages at the same time," he said. "The only times I can remember is a couple of times when we went on vacation, but that’s it. I was never trying to steal anything."
Parking in one of the city’s garages can cost $12 for eight hours and $42 overnight.
Soares said he did not believe that Cohen overreacted. "It’s better to be caught with your foot in your mouth than to get caught with your hand in the cookie jar," said Soares. "[Cohen] found out [about Pellicano] and got angry. It’s understandable."
Cohen joined the seven member volunteer board on Sept. 10. Since then, Pellicano and Cohen have butted head on a variety of different issues. Pellicano served as the chair of the board until recently.
During Cohen’s first meeting on Sept. 10, Cohen was one of the most vocal supporters for replacing Pellicano as chairman of the board.
At that meeting, the board reorganized and placed Frank Turso as chairman, with Daniel Decavaignac as vice-chair and Cohen as Treasurer. Then, at the Sept 24 meeting, Chairman Turso named his committees and left both Pellicano and Commissioner Michele Russo off of all of the board’s committees.
That was only the beginning of a meeting that included several verbal arguments between Pellicano and Cohen, culminating with the accusations of Pellicano having two parking passes.