Parking therapy
In a letter published in this week's Suburbanite, Teaneck CCP leader Bill Moring laments the breakdown in communication that he feels is responsible for the poor state of relations between certain community activists and town officials. Comparing the situation to a troubled marriage, Moring calmly explains the TCCP's side of the story, appealing for understanding and confidence building measures to restore mutual trust. Help may be on the way in the form of an initiative that everyone can get behind. In the past few days, Internet postings from a group calling itself the Teaneck Commuter Coalition (TCC? Too similar!) have appeared to encourage residents to join them in voicing their concerns at an upcoming Council meeting. They are to urge the Council to take action to alleviate the difficulties faced by commuters who have no place to legally park near the major city-bound bus stops.
Luckily, so long as the proposed remedy for this is not eliminating parking restrictions on residential blocks that currently have them, pretty much everybody can support taking measures to remedy the situation. Increasing accessibility of public transportation is environmentally responsible, good for local quality of life, and helpful to real estate values. It might even spur economic development in and around any designated commuter parking area or provide the Township with a bit of extra revenue through the collection of parking permit fees.
According to the February edition of the Bergen Insider (please disregard the fact that all the features are about establishments or individuals who bought advertising space in that issue, that's mere coincidence), members of Council have already held talks with representative of Fairleigh Dickinson University about putting a commuter parking area somewhere on the campus in conjunction with securing direct NJ Transit bus service from there to Manhattan. In another sign that Council members are anticipating some movement on this issue soon, a resident survey included in Mayor Katz's periodic newsletter, Teaneck Tidbits, includes "commuter parking" as one of the choices for the most significant issue facing Teaneck.
So the next time a group stages a pre-arranged storming of the Council chambers to dominate the Good & Welfare section, it may not cause the tension level in the room to rise. When it comes to commuter parking, we can check the bitterness and suspicion at the door. Can't we?
posted by Teaneck Blog @ 2:18 PM
12 Comments:
As founder of the Teaneck Community Libertarian Coalition (TCLC) I am fundamentally opposed to all aspects of public transportation.
Come, fellow libertarians, join me in a struggle to make Teaneck bus free once and for all!
Who does E. Katz put on his "Tidbits" mailing list? I am a member of 2 boards, a graduate of Leadership Teaneck and a long time resident. I am not on this list. I am not one of his supporters but neither am I a public detractor. Does it do any good to send out a questionaire only to a select group of supporters? Are the results valid?
The Mayor's email address is public and he always responds to everybody. Surely he would be delighted to add you and any of your acquiantances similarly not yet in his loop to his future mailings. Try him at msg411@aol.com.
befuddled:
All you need to do is send him your email address and ask to be on his list. The tidbit is also posted in the Teaneck411 yahoo group. A similar questionaire exists on his website katz07666.com since before the election. I beleve it has aways included the commuter parking choice.
I agree that this is not a scientific survey and it can easily be skewed. However, I don't think anyone claimed otherwise.
members of Council have already held talks with representative of Fairleigh Dickinson University about putting a commuter parking area somewhere on the campus in conjunction with securing direct NJ Transit bus service from there to Manhattan.
What a great idea! When I was going to FDU at night, I had to take the NJ Transit bus home and pick up my car because the bus did not go there directly (the ride home would been provided by my family)
Count me in to the lovefest over commuter parking. My only concern with FDU as a location would be it's distance from the Turnpike. In my view it's essential for buses from the commuter lot run express to the Port Authority making no other stops in town. There's limited benefit to a park and ride facility if buses make subsequent stops.
I agree -- where is the proposal Mayor Katz put forth last spring to construct a park 'n' ride near the turnpike? With stores and multiple bus routes going through Teaneck, this could be a major money-maker AND provide great services to commuters.
NJ Transit busses also go to the PA at the GW bridge.
FDU is easy access to Route 4, diretly to the bridge.
The Turnpike is not the only conduit to riches.....
Today's Sunday Record has a somewhat cautionary story from our Englewood neighbors, where "The new downtown parking garage is $150,000 in the red since opening Aug. 21."
Although I believe the Englewood garage is more oriented toward shoppers' parking than commuter parking, we do have to ask ourselves a basic question: If we build it, will they pay?
I think in order for a commuter parking facility to be successful, there will need to be much stronger disincentives than we have now against parking free on the streets. A system of resident parking stickers and guest passes may be needed, and street parking restrictions will need to be expanded ever farther away from the main bus routes. (I live two long blocks from Queen Anne Rd, and the restrictions on the first block aren't keeping parkers off our block.)
This may be an issue we can all get behind now, but bitterness may not stay checked at the door if we find ourselves with a white elephant and that flying fickle finger of blame looking for someone to pin it on.
Why no decals for residents?
I just returned from the meeting and take offense at the suggesttion that a group would be "storming" the Council chambers to take control of the Good and Welfare. There was no storming and there was no taking of control of that time slot. Until recently there was no forum available to make the Council aware of the commuter perspective. This same person has spoken before the township in the past and they continue to place band-aids on situations. That is not why they were elected!!
I think Blog meant the usual storming, not the mostly reasonable folks who appeared last night. Even some of the greenies were mildly sympathetic to trampling grass (Mrs. Cramer) for the sake of parking-although it was probably just a dig at the railroad that owns the grass.
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