Parking Authority Marks Tires, Warns Residents To Get Permits
If you find a yellow hash mark on one of your tires, it’s time to get a parking permit or move your car, officials say.
If you’re parked on a residential street in the Borough of Fort Lee, and you find a yellow hash mark on the tire of your car, it can mean a number of things, but you should definitely consider yourself warned.
For a new resident who may not know the rules yet or who just hasn’t gotten around to it, it means you need to get a residential parking permit. If you’re a longtime resident who hasn’t yet gotten your $5 parking permit, you need to get one—and soon. And if you’re a nonresident, you need to move your car.
“It appears that the [Parking Authority] is marking cars that don't have a current parking sticker,” said one resident who recently found the telltale mark on one of his tires.
But the borough’s Parking Authority administrator says the practice of marking tires is nothing new, and that residents, and even sometimes nonresidents, are given plenty of leeway before they’re ticketed.
“We’re not looking to hurt our residents; we’re just trying to get their attention to come in and get their permit,” Gallo said, adding that the Parking Authority could easily monitor illegally parked cars electronically, “but we like to put the mark there so that people can see that their car has been marked so it’s not a secretive thing.”
The resident who found the yellow hash mark on the top of the tire of his car, which was parked on his own street, said he saw a uniformed worker in a Fort Lee Parking Authority vehicle marking other cars, so he stopped the worker and asked him why.
“When I asked the PA worker why he was marking them, he said they are going to begin ticketing residents soon,” the Fort Lee man told Patch in an email. “He said that people have had plenty of time to change over to the new stickers. I asked him where it was posted that this was happening, and he said it was in the Suburbanite—a paper that does not get delivered to residential people, just the apartment buildings.”
According to borough ordinance, if you don’t have some kind of permit on your vehicle—whether a current residential parking permit, a visitor pass or a business pass—you can only park for two hours on residential streets. After your two hours are up, you have to move your car, Gallo said. If you have the decal, you can park on any residential street in the borough, although you do have to pay the meter if you choose to park in a metered spot or in a municipal parking lot.
Gallo noted that signs on residential streets borough-wide make the rules pretty clear.
“But that’s what that yellow mark is; it’s marking them for two hours,” she said. “And if the officer comes back two hours later, and the car is still there, and they don’t have any permits on their vehicle, they get a summons.”
But Gallo also said that if that happens to a new resident or even one who’s never had a permit before but never been ticketed, the Parking Authority usually cuts them a break.
“We tell them to go to court, and then we dismiss that ticket in court,” Gallo said. “That’s a one-time thing, so in case you didn’t know, and you are a resident, we don’t want to penalize you. They get that one-time deal.”
In late December 2010, the borough instituted a policy that residents had to pay a $5 fee for residential parking permits that for many years had been free, touching off some debate.
“It’ll be a year-and-a-half, so he should have renewed at the beginning of 2011,” Gallo said of the unlucky resident who discovered the yellow indicator on his tire just this week. “But we give ample time to come and get your permit; we don’t summons until at least four to six months after we issue them. We put it in the newspaper; we put it on our website. It’s all over the place that you have to come in and renew.”
Gallo pointed out that the residential parking permit program has been in effect for “well over 30 years.” The only thing that’s new is that it now costs $5, which gets you not just a pass that’s good for four years, but also what Gallo referred to as “a package.”
“We’re so strict because a lot of streets have a problem with people coming, parking their car there, and then going to New York, or getting visitor passes from their friends that live in town, and they park all day long; it’s really an effective program,” Gallo said. “We’re able to go down a block, and sometimes when we have a real problem, we put notices on the cars that say, ‘Hey, if you didn’t get this legally, you need to stop.’ We even give those people a chance.”
The package Gallo referred to includes a traffic pass and two visitor passes in addition to the parking permit. The traffic pass allows you to get around the borough easier during peak traffic hours when Fort Lee police may close certain streets.
“They try to keep the highway people from cutting through town to get to the bridge,” Gallo said. “But if you have [the traffic pass] and you see that there’s a street that’s blocked off by police, you show that to them, and they’ll let you through if it’s just because of traffic.”
The $5 fee also gets you the two visitor passes, which Gallo described as “limited.”
“They’re color-coded; we zoned out the town,” she said. “You have to stay within the area. Usually we give them a block or two from the address that they’re visiting so that we have control over the people that don’t live here.”
The Fort Lee Parking Authority is located behind Borough Hall at 309 Main St. You can reach the office at 201-592-3500, ext.1518, email them at info@fortleeparking.org or visit them online.
In This article
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Fort Lee Police Department
1325 16th St, Fort Lee, NJ -
Fort Lee Borough Administrative Offices-Borough Hall
309 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ
Martha Cohen
11:30 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The "package" was always given with the parking sticker so this is not an extra that has come with the $5 price tag. As a reminder, when the parking stickers were first approved the parking authority rep said that there would never be a cost to them, it was just to protect the residents. As for the chalk on tires, we suggested that everyone get minimum 2 hours free parking at meters to encourage shopping in Fort Lee like they do in other towns like Teaneck. The Council said this was impossible to do...hmm, seems it isn't impossible to do throughout the entire boro and we were just talking about where businesses are. Guess when you can ticket someone, nothing is impossible.
Jonathan Loor
7:29 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
We have a business on Anderson Avenue with limited metered parking and we cater to young adults who have grown acustomed to parking on the side streets. They frequent our establishment for more than two hours at a time. Its bad enough they need to move their cars to residential parking spots after midnight between December 1st to March 31. Do they offer temporary parking passes for business in our situation that we may administer to our patrons? If the PA is reading this, we are NOT requesting more metered spots. We do have out of region customers and frequent tickets to our clientel will be detrimental to our business.
Best Regards,
Jonathan Loor
Local Battles Gaming Center
Zachary David
8:42 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Giving people 2 hrs free parking at meters would essentially eliminate most of the revenue that the meters generate. And how would you enforce that 2 hour limit? Using parking authority resources to monitor all those cars would be a waste of money. And do you really believe that people will shop in Fort Lee based on getting free parking? Or that the need to drop a quarter into a meter would dictate you going elsewhere (and spend more money in gas to get to another town). If so, please give an example of where you personally would make a shopping decision based on free parking. Let's focus on issues of substance and stop using these minor issues to complain about how things are done in town.
Zachary David
8:47 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The person quoted in the article about not getting the Suburbanite is mistaken. I live in a private house and it is delivered into my driveway every week for free.
Martha Cohen
11:55 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Zachary, go to Teaneck and other towns that allow this time for shoppers and they are doing just fine - don't see many empty stores there. As for the point of "monitoring all those cars", the Parking Authority is saying they are chalking cars throughout the boro and we are simply focusing on those streets where businesses are. Obviously, they must have the resources if they are chalking throughout the boro. Let's look at what is working in other towns and see what can help business in Fort Lee. As for your comment about people shopping elsewhere, you should talk to people in and out of Fort Lee - we are known as "ticket town" and with red light cameras coming if the Mayor and Council have their way, it will only get worse.
Zachary David
12:17 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Martha: I don't see how the 2 hours of free shopping time influences the success or failure of a shopping district. At best, it's a "nice to have" feature. There are many more important factors. Are you saying that if Teaneck stopped giving free parking that people would stop shopping there? Do you shop in Teaneck because of the free parking? I don't think that whether you have to put a coin in a meter or not is a relevant factor in the success of a shopping district. You can't compare Teaneck's shopping to Fort Lee. It is a much larger shopping area and more diverse with a population that supports many of their stores because they meet their particular religious needs.
Talking about "ticket town" -- Englewood has a very vibrant shopping district and the police there are more ticket happy than anywhere. And the parking there is a real pain. Their business district is successful because it is walkable and they have a decent variety of stores people like. What do we offer on Main Street in Fort Lee? Not much and that's not because of metered parking. I look forward to redevelopment area 5 as a destination - Main Street will never be much more than it is today.
Keith Jensen
1:24 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Merchants #1 issue is parking. As an owner of a merchant processing company, no one has the pulse of the businesses and communities more than I given the nature of my work.
Repeatedly, I attempted to give ideas to the Fort Lee Parking Authority and advice to reduce their processing fees. All requests have fallen on deaf ears for 5+ years. Likely, because the Parking Auth is anointed and completely autonomous in this town.
Perfect example that you can provide free parking for 2 hours, or even 10 min is Westwood, a commuter hub for train and bus, they make it happen and retail stores thrive. Ask Conrad’s Candy or Hair Trendz and try to find available retail space.
http://www.northjersey.com/shopping/announcements/146222005_Reminder_from_Westwood_Parking_Authority.html
Englewood indeed is another ticket town which has plenty of available retail space. Speak to the owners: on1Dancewear, Tapas or Vero Uomo. They pay the ticket to keep their customer happy, especially when they run in for just 10min to pick something up.
Armando’s, Pizza King, Santorini and more are at wits end with parking situation in FL. Not Pomodoro, but the PA avoids ticketing them.Odd?
Customers do not return when they are uncomfortable about parking. There are efficient means for communities to address this. Fort Lee must eliminate their conventional thinking and be open for ideas.
Better, eliminate the mysterious parking authority and fold it in with the rest of govt as most other towns do.
Zachary David
2:45 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
We need to clarify what we are talking about here. Lack of parking space is certainly an issue for many Fort Lee retailers. That can have an adverse impact on sales. That's separate from putting a coin in a meter and beyond the scope of this discussion. We're talking about trying to get away with not feeding a meter.. I've gotten stuck with an $18 parking ticket myself.. You take your chances and sometimes you lose.
Jack B Goode
7:24 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
It is $28.00 for a meter violation
ABC
11:29 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
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Margo Jensen
10:30 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Main St. does not have a problem with parking. You have the parking lot behind the Post Office,imagine running to those meters. I had suggested putting in several stories for parking there. I was told: "no that would bring in more traffic". I think that would take traffic OFF the streets FASTER. This week I had lunch in Englewood and the meter will allow you to park one hr. at a time. You have to run out in the middle of eating, if you remember to, and fill the meter. An hour goes by fast when you want to relax and enjoy your meal. When shopping you might be stuck on a line. People might spend more time shopping when not under preasure to run out and feed a meter. One might be apt to shop store to store. Yes I could go on and on. This meter money seems to be more impt. than the patrons and the proprietors. Where does this money go anyway? Why is IT more important?
ABC
11:33 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Why don't we tell our Fort Lee merchants' owners and employees to stop parking their vehicles at the meters in front of their own businesses and making their customers scurry around for parking spaces causing them to park in the yellow or at bump outs because there is no available parking for them. Business owners and their employees should be parking on side streets or in the parking lots.