February 27, 2009
Edison officials have postponed enforcement of new parking regulations around the Central Avenue train station to hear feedback from the residents who live near the station. They need to hear from all township residents, and we have some suggestions for why the new policy should be scrapped.
The regulations -- which increased the no-parking area and expanded no-parking times to 6 a.m.-midnight, seven days a week -- were made after a closed-door meeting with residents of the immediate vicinity of the train station. Such sweeping laws, especially ones that will affect all township residents, should be made in a process that at least resembles democracy, which this did not.
Politicians are always supposed to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Yet, the secret meeting that led to this ordinance smacks of the kind of election-year stunts that make voters cynical about politics. Since the ordinance calls for giving parking permits to residents of these zones -- even if they have a driveway and/or garage -- the mayor's new voters will surely rent them out and profit from this new parking monopoly.
For guests of residents of neighborhoods now in the no-fly zone, this is an invasion of privacy. Steven Nagel, district committeeman for District 31, wrote the following on the Edison/Highland Park message board: "I also have received assurances that if you call the Police Department and inform them that you will be having visitors (i.e., a party at your house) they will not interfere with the parking of your guests." It is doubtful that having to call the Police Department to let them know who is visiting where, when, and for how long will reassure anyone. Edison's message to Jewish residents: "If your close relative dies, make sure you call the police so they don't tow or ticket all your shiva guests. And make sure your shiva guests, who are seeking to comfort the mourning, understand the risks now involved." At least our Russian immigrants will be used to such a system.
Residents of the train station area may want to visit other parts of town. When they do, will they be allowed to park there free of charge and free of hassle, and with full privacy? If they rent out a parking pass in front of their house, will they volunteer to pay to park in someone else's neighborhood when they visit friends? Would it be impolitic to point out that those who complained to the mayor chose to live next to a train station?
Will the residents who don't live on the affected streets -- Lenox, Porter, Prescott, Prospect, Reed, Rutgers, Alice, Andre, Central, Back, Barlow, Carmello, Chestnut, Dalton, Division, Eardley, Ely, Greenwood, Hillcrest, Lahiere, Linden, Partch, Plainfield, Poll, Price, Prospect, Runyon, Sheppard East and West, Sims, Stony Road West, Walnut, Center, Ellen, Flower, Freeman, Gold, Hector, Jeff, Miller, Paley, Pleasant East and West, and Preston -- have their taxes cut so they don't have to pay for routine maintenance on roads they are forbidden from using?
Will Edison run shuttles throughout the day, in all parts of town, all day? If the township believes that residents will want to use the train station until midnight, can we safely assume there will be shuttles running several times an hour up through midnight? How about for the elderly or disabled? In bad weather?
Lastly, a message for Highland Park Mayor Meryl Frank: Residents used to have two train stations they were welcome to use, New Brunswick and Edison. Parking has become much tougher in New Brunswick. Now Edison has taken it a step further than New Brunswick. Will Frank stand up for her borough residents?