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In response to growing concerns over the proposed parking restrictions near the Edison train station, Mayor Jun Choi announced the current parking laws will remain in effect and the proposed ordinance will be held in abeyance.

According to Choi spokesman Jerry Barca, the ordinance hasn't been enacted yet because the administration feels it needs to hear the voices of the residents of Edison and ultimately try to find the best solution possible.

"Our intention is to protect the quality of life of the residents of Edison," Barca said.

A packed town hall meeting was held at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Edison, on March 4, where residents voiced their concerns.

The parking situation for residents near the Edison train station, located on Central Avenue, has become increasingly overcrowded and has outraged many residents, who complain of blocked driveways and cars left in front of their houses for days.

The ordinance would change parking permit hours from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday to 6 a.m.-12 a.m. every day. It also said residents would receive a permit for each vehicle they own and each residence would be allowed two visitor permits, which would be valid for two days per visitor. Additionally, both the residents of the house and the visitors must park on the same block as the host.

Although New Jersey Transit is scheduled to begin construction on 466 parking spots at the train station in May and finish in February 2010, many people still feel the proposed ordinance isn't justified.

Jim Nuzzo, of Central Avenue, said he strongly disagrees with the proposed ordinance. People should not have permits on their cars, but rather should police thier own curbs, Nuzzo said.

"If a resident finds a car that is not his... call the police to have it removed or ticketed," Nuzzo said. "So instead of calling the police and telling them we're going to have guests today, we can call the police and tell them there are people parked illegally in front of my house."

Additionally, Nuzzo said the important thing would be for neighbors to get in touch with each other. Neighbors need to let each other know if they are having people over for a party, or for an extended period of time such as the shiva mourning period, or a Jewish holiday, he said.

The ordinance also would have created permit parking on streets outside of the current restricted parking zone. One resident that lives on Linden Avenue, which is outside of the restricted parking zone, said he wasn't pleased that the new ordinance would create permit parking on his street because there usually aren't any cars on the street that don't belong to the residents that live there.

Other residents, such as Rachel Sandler of Barlow Road, said she would like her street to be included in the restricted permit parking. Many non-residents park on Barlow Road, she said. Barlow is a residential street off of Suttons Lane, and would be the far boundary of new parking restrictions.

"If they extended the area so that it was from 7 (a.m.)-3 (p.m.) Monday through Friday it would be perfect," Sandler said.

Angelo Eleftheriou, also of Barlow Road, said his street should have restricted permit parking because there are constantly cars parked illegally on his street. There has been a car with Connecticut license plate on his street since January, he said. Eleftheriou said because of the illegal parking that occurs on his street, he received a parking ticket for parking in front of his own house, went to court, and lost the appeal.

"I think it's a disgrace that my neighbors don't care," he said.

Overall, there was more opposition to the restrictions at the meeting than support for it.

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg of Congregation Beth-El in Edison said his shul is very close to the train station; however, he was never approached about the new parking ordinance by anyone from the mayor's administration. Since the Choi administration began, Rosenberg said he has never received any phone calls regarding issues in the Jewish community.

"The mayor has established a clear pattern of governing by splitting the Edison community into narrow interest groups," Rosenberg said. "I am extremely concerned that the mayor believes that he has the Jewish community -- particularly the Orthodox community -- in his back pocket."

The Choi administration has attempted to silence Rosenberg as one of the speakers for the Jewish community of Edison, he said. Rosenberg said if he still had the same voice that he had under the previous administration of George Spadoro, the unpopular ordinance never would have been enacted.

"I hope the Jewish community will awaken from their slumber and realize that it's time to put our foot down and tell this mayor that he cannot enact ordinances that hurt the Jewish people," he said.

Fran Bar-Eli, who lives outside of the restricted permit parking zone, said the mayor did the right thing by holding the meeting and listening to the concerns of the people. Ultimately, the mayor's intentions are good and he wants the residents of Edison to have a good quality of life, Bar-Eli said.

Police Director Brian Collier said the police were hoping the new parking ordinance would leave the streets to the people of Edison. The ordinance will not be enforced by the police until the residents of Edison agree upon the statutes of the ordinance, Collier said.

"We thought it would be better to have the ordinance and not use it, as opposed to needing the ordinance and not having it," he said.

Another issue is whether Choi supports NJ Transit's proposed construction of 466 new parking spots. Councilwoman Antonia Ricigliano passed out fliers at the meeting saying Choi was intent on stopping NJ Transit from building the new parking spots.

Ricigliano provided The Jewish State with an email dated Jan. 15, 2008 from Carmine Melillo, a member of the NJ Transit customer service team that was sent to community activist Craig Prupis that said: "NJT has not scrapped plans to improve parking at the Edison RR Station. At the request of the mayor of Edison, we have put our plans on hold while the township works out the details of its plan with a private developer."

However, Barca said the flier that she passed out at the meeting is inaccurate, and accused her of playing politics with the issue.

Barca said a private developer, Intercap Holdings, was scheduled to design and build new real estate in Edison, and in conjunction with NJ Transit build new parking spots at the train station as well. Therefore, the mayor put the original deal with NJ Transit on hold because he thought he found a deal that would benefit Edison, Barca said. Once the mayor saw that the project would use 800 housing units, he realized this project wouldn't benefit the residents of Edison in the long run, he said.

In a statement on June 10, 2008, Choi said: "At this point, the landowner -- Intercap Holdings -- is unwilling to reduce the number of residential units, pay for more of the infrastructure improvements and incorporate other community suggestions. Therefore, this project will not happen as it is proposed. It is not good for the residents and it is not good for Edison. We can do better for our Township."