IF YOU SHOVEL IT, IS IT YOURS?

Crackdown On Parking-Space Reservations Follows Snow-Streets Enforcement

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Feb. 2, 2011)

PERTH AMBOY — Everyone has seen it: a chair, a trashcan or even a

card-table placed within a shoveled-out parking-space along a street to reserve it

for the person who did the work removing snow.

Under state law, such obstructions placed along public roadways are

illegal, even-though Deputy Police Chief Benjamin Ruiz admitted last week that

local police have hesitated in the past to enforce the law without someone

filing a complaint.

The traditional method of reserving parking-spaces in snowy weather came

under scrutiny at the City Council Caucus early last week, where other issues

pertaining to snow-removal also were discussed at-length, following the

second major snowfall of the season.

Councilman Fernando Gonzalez, who lives on upscale High Street, complained

that the furniture being put-out to reserve shoveled-out parking-space along

his street “makes the neighborhood ugly.”

“Thank you,” Councilman Joel Pabon Jr. said.

“The whole area looks like a ghetto,” Pabon declared. “You look-out, and

there’s about 50 chairs, tables — even sofas.”

“I’m talking-about your prime areas — High Street, Columbus Circle, Water

Street — where there’s just single-family homes.”

“There’s a suitcase sitting in-front-of my house, but it’s not mine,”

Council President Kenneth Balut said, drawing laughter. “I make a social visit

to see my car because it’s not in-front-of my house.”

Ruiz said the Police Department’s position over the years has been one of

“live and let live,” given the fact that “there’s very-little off-street

parking” in most of the city.

“If we get a call, it’s logged-in, and we go-out and address it,” he said.

“If the neighbors deal with it among themselves, then we won’t enforce it.”

“It’s kind-of a tradition,” resident Alan Silber said during the public

portion. “If you spent an hour digging yourself out, go for groceries, and,

five minutes later, someone else parks there, it’s hard to swallow.

“So you put a chair there,” he said. “It’s a tradition. Half the

parking-spaces are gone when it snows.”

Gonzalez agreed that “we need to maintain some degree of civility,” but

added that “the problem right-now is the snow in the streets.”

City Ordinances require that all vehicles must be removed from 34

specifically-designated snow-emergency routes in order to allow snow-plows and other

removal equipment and emergency vehicles to get-through.

Along such roadways, signs are posted that state, “No Parking When Roads

Are Snow Covered.” Parking in these spaces after the blacktop is coated with

the white stuff could result in vehicles being towed.

Around 8 p.m. last Thursday, some residents learned the hard way about

snow-emergency routes as the plows — accompanied by police cars with sirens

blaring and loudspeakers demanding that the vehicles be removed or risk towing —

took to the streets,

Mayor Wilda Diaz rode in a Public Works Department truck and watched as

towtrucks began removing those cars which remained after the final warnings

were issued.

“I know that times are tough, and that people can’t afford to be towed,”

the Mayor said. “But our streets need to be cleared, and we gave them

plenty-of-time to move.”

City officials strongly-recommend parking vehicles in driveways or on

side-streets not designated as snow-emergency routes as an alternative to

impeding snow-plows and other removal equipment and emergency vehicles from

getting-through. During severe conditions, city lots will be opened, and

parking-fees will be suspended there and along smaller public streets to keep the flow

of traffic moving on major roadways.

City Ordinances also require that snow be removed from sidewalks for

business and commercial properties 24 hours after snow has ceased falling, and

that snow be removed from sidewalks for residential properties 48 hours after

snow has ceased falling.

Snow is removed from most sidewalks in the city in a timely fashion, but

there are always a few holdouts who risk severe consequences from both

summonses issued by city inspectors and insurance claims filed by passersby who can

sustain injuries from falls.

At the Council Caucus, Pabon brought-up the conditions at the BP

gasoline-station at New Brunswick and Madison Avenues.

“It’s a sheet of ice,” he declared.

“I’ve passed-by there, and it’s a very-dangerous situation,” Councilman

Kenneth Gonzalez added. “I’m amazed that it’s allowed to continue.”

“I can assure you that a summons will be issued tomorrow at-the-latest,”

Code Enforcement Director Edward Scala stated.

Scala said his Department has been limited in its ability to enforce

snow-removal because “the city is covered by two inspectors issuing summonses

instead of seven.”

Business Administrator Gregory Fehrenbach said that other inspectors would

be temporarily-reassigned to enforce snow-removal, including “two part-time

inspectors hired for sanitation regulations,” making “a total of six people

involved in enforcement.”

City snow-removal efforts came under-fire from several quarters, including

members of the Council itself.

Resident Gregory Pabon — no relation of the Councilman — questioned the

lack of snow-removal at “vacant buildings,” asking, “Doesn’t the bank have

an obligation to make-sure it’s shoveled?”

“If we had the staff to do it, I’d recommend that we have a list of

bank-owned properties and require them to remove their snow,” Kenneth Gonzalez s

aid.

“We could get a private entity to dig it out, and then put a lien on the

property,” Fernando Gonzalez said, “We need to get a legal opinion.”

“There’s a procedure that needs-to be followed,” Fehrenbach said. “Also,

does it take less time to issue a summons?

“It’s impossible to do what Mr. (Fernando) Gonzalez says to do without

staff,” he declared.

City Law Director Mark Blunda agreed to research the issue and report-back

to the Council.