More than a half-dozen residents came before City Council last night to express their dismay or preach patience when it comes to the new parking configuration that came with two-way traffic.
Harry Patel, owner of Beverly Sweet Shop, estimates business is half what is was before now that on-street parking isn’t allowed in front of his Main Street shop, a few doors from East Milton Avenue. Others said the businesses along East Milton Avenue before Fulton Street also have been affected by on-street spaces no longer in front of their stores. James Pekarofski, whose family ran a shoe store on Irving Street for many years, said there was always parking on Irving and Main streets, even when downtown had two-way traffic. He suggested the new parking configuration “may be a subtle way of relocating stores.”
Council President Samson Steinman assured residents that the parking plan is not complete and more may be done, whether adding traffic lights or reducing Stop signs. He stressed that the changes were made for safety reasons, as the average speed on Irving and Main streets was 40 miles per hour. A portion of the approximately 40 parking spaces were actually illegal spots that people came to rely on, he added.
Bob Markey of West Main Street said time will prove the decision to create two-way traffic the smart thing to do, but changing a 75-year-old traffic pattern will not be easy, and could create an economic hardship for some. He suggested eliminated or modifying the turning lanes, which took away almost a dozen spaces near Elizabeth Avenue and West Main, in the same way as on West Grand where they’re active only during peak hours.
There have been some growing pains, said Josh Donovan, a member of the Rahway Center Partnership and Zoning Board of Adjustment, and hopes to bring stakeholders together in the near future to fix problems or suggestion modifications. “Those parking issues will remain if they’re not fixed today, no matter what business comes to town in the future.”
For some past posts on two-way traffic and parking, see:
Change of direction
More traffic changes afoot
Three side streets to change direction
Check out the new poll, above right, to let us know what you think so far of the new traffic patterns and parking.
Eliminating (free) street parking without making any provisions for free parking with validation in either the main parking garage or the lot on Cherry St. will ultimately constructively evict the small businesses downtown. I already pay enough in property taxes to this town and I see no reason to give the city extra money to pay for the privilege of shopping downtown when I can easily go elsewhere to shop and park for free.
Moblind, with gas prices as they are, you’re better off paying for the garage than driving out to the mall or warehouse store.How much are the garages going to charge for parking during prime shopping hours? If it’s a dollar or two, no big deal. If it’s $5 or $6, that’s a hassle. I’m not going to pay an extra $5 to go enjoy my $5 smoothie.One problem with the train station is that if parking were free, the downtown area could become one big park-and-ride. There needs to be a way to fairly allocate a limited number of parking spots.
i hope the small businesses downtown do get evicted as they are 99% dumps
Maybe some of the stores downtown should stay open past 7 to get more business. Seems like they are closed before most of the foot traffic has a chance to get home from work and walk by. The nicest thing the Beverly Store has is their sign. I went in there once thinking it might be a cool store and was very disappointed.
What Harry fails to mention is that before the “no parking” signs were erected in front of his store, there was a NJ Transit bus stop there, which, of course, prohibited parking.
“What Harry fails to mention is that before the “no parking” signs were erected in front of his store, there was a NJ Transit bus stop there, which, of course, prohibited parking.”There are tree parking spots across the street and a half a dozen more on his side that are missing. The bus stop was always there. Obviously, he’s not talking about the bus stop.