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Parking in the neighborhoods around the Edison Train station is a problem -- commuters park on the residential streets, often blocking residents from exiting their driveway.

Additionally, when some residents try to express their concerns, people have become unruly, cursing and shouting to get their point across.

"We've had residents in disputes -- arguing with commuters and kids are nearby. Threats were being made, gestures were made," said Edison Police Sgt. Dominick Masi. "Traditionally, when parking restrictions go into effect the problem moves to the next street, so we tried to take a proactive approach."

As a result, on Jan. 17, the Edison Township Council passed an ordinance changing the parking restrictions around the Central Avenue train station, making them even tighter than before. Under the new ordinance, only residents will be able to park on most streets around the train station between 6 a.m. and midnight, seven days a week. The new ordinance creates three different restricted parking zones, including the neighborhood off Central Avenue, near the Edison Jets field on one side of Plainfield Avenue and as far as Suttons Lane on the other side of Plainfield Avenue.

The changes were made "in order to promote public safety and preserve the quality of life in your community," wrote Edison Mayor Jun H. Choi in a letter to residents. "These changes were based on community input received over the past year, as well as professional evaluation by the Departments of Engineering and Police."

"We're trying to balance the needs of the commuters with the needs of the residents," said Randi Chmielewski, Choi's constituency relations manager.

But the administration will delay enforcing the expanded residential zone and hours until after a town hall meeting on the issue to be held at 7:30 p.m. on Wed., March 4 at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, 450 Division St.

Many people are not happy with the new changes -- residents who live near the area, residents who live outside the restricted parking area, non-residents who commute to work using the train and a host of others dislike the ordinance, and most for different reasons. Some residents are annoyed at the idea of having to call the police if they want to invite friends or family over for a barbecue, many Jewish community residents are concerned that people visiting a shiva home will be ticketed. Sitting shiva is the Jewish mourning ritual held at someone's home, most often the home of one of the deceased person's immediate family.

Changes in the parking restrictions mean that someone living in those areas should call police if they anticipate having guests parking on the street. It also means that more cars will seek parking on Kilmer Avenue (where street parking is permissible, as it is not a residential street) and in the Edison Jets parking lot at the end of Central Avenue. Currently, there are no available spots in the NJ Transit parking lot at the train station and there is a wait list for spots as they become available.

Mitchell Baruch lives just outside the restricted area on Lexington Avenue. He sees many cars parked where they shouldn't, but said the expanded hours are too long and that restrictions should be relaxed on weekends. He said people who are having trouble because others are parking too close to the corner or blocking driveways should call the police to have the offending cars ticketed and towed.

"The police come when they are notified," Baruch said. "I had a car parked in front of my house for four days. I checked with my neighbors... and called the police... two hours later police were there. People are upset about the length of the restriction -- seven days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight."

Larry Lennhoff lives in Highland Park and commutes via the Edison train station to his office in Jersey City. He heard about the new parking restrictions from the Edison/Highland Park Yahoo message board. He's actually using a similar method to try to establish a commuter group to help arrange car pools to the station or to try to organize some type of shuttle service.

"There seems to be a variety of constituents who live in the area with a variety of somewhat conflicting goals," Lennhoff said. "For people that live in [Edison], they're paying taxes and they won't be able to park on a public street. They have a good argument. I've been commuting into town for some years and I've never seen anyone inconvenienced, I've never seen anyone parking across someone's driveway. If someone's parking in a driveway, then address that directly instead of changing regulations. Highland Park is between two train stations, we don't have one of our own."

Residents who live there do need help, said Anthony Russomanno -- who has opposed Choi on political issues -- but it should have come from a new NJ Transit parking lot, on which construction has been delayed by the mayor's office, waiting to see if the area would be developed into a combined retail and residential site by a builder.

"What they should do is go back to NJ Transit and beg for mercy," Russomanno said, and added the township also could add stops south of Rte. 27 to the current Edison Light Transit bus routes. He suggested the bus stop at Rte. 27 by the old Topps Plaza could be one such stop. "This is a political move. [Choi] understands South Edison is not happy with him and he's trying to break into his opponent's [voting block]... where are people who have been parking for years going to park?"

Edison officials realize the ordinance was not well received and have scheduled a town hall meeting March 4 to discuss the issue with residents. To advertise the meeting the township sent out 800 letters to households in zones 1 and 2, according to Jerry Barca, Edison Township communications director. Choi and Council President AnnMarie Griffin-Ussak did not directly respond to requests for interviews or questions posed in messages.

"This is an initial meeting with those neighborhoods immediately affected," Barca said of the meeting. "If we need to have further meetings, we will and we would expand those discussions to commuters who use the Edison train station."

Councilwoman Antonia "Toni" Ricigliano said before voting she asked if the ordinance and parking changes were discussed with the Jewish community and was told it was. She said the parking restrictions are too broad, too difficult for residents expecting large numbers of guests, especially the Jewish community on Shabbat and other Jewish holidays prohibiting driving and telephone calls (when visiting family might park their car and stay for three days).

"I've been receiving emails like you wouldn't believe," she said. "One woman (who wrote to object to the ordinance) wrote 'I have to get permission to have a meeting at my home.' I want to revisit this" parking issue.

Ricigliano, who has announced she will run for mayor in the town's Democratic Party primary, said she's also asked about the Edison light transit bus service. Currently one bus operates during morning and evening rush hours with stops beginning at the Rivendell complex at Plainfield Avenue to Merrywood Drive and Brunswick Avenue before ending at the station. The other bus begins at the Durham Woods complex and runs down Talmadge Road with stops at several complexes before ending at the train station.

Barca said, "This is a quality-of-life improvement. Residents have had huge problems with parking in front of their homes."

Masi said during events like a family sitting shiva or a school event at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, police would be notified and told not to ticket non-resident parked cars. Additionally, if cars are parked in the restricted area near the Central Avenue playground and tennis courts, police officers will investigate whether the car drivers are at the recreation area before handing out parking tickets.

Parking in the lot on Central will still be permissible for commuters, Masi said. Masi said the weekend and late night hours were designed to prevent people returning from a night on the town in Manhattan from being loud and bothering residents. Instead of parking in the train station lot, where spaces can usually be found on weekends, people would park on the side streets to save money.

Several other Edison residents have said there were open spaces in the station lot, but they were afraid to park there as signs designated the spots by permit only, even on weekends.