News
Despite Protest From Postal Workers, Red Bank Restricts Parking On Hudson Ave
By John Burton
RED BANK - Employees of the Red Bank Post Office squared off against the governing body over parking on Hudson during a regular meeting of the borough council last Monday.
During a public hearing prior to the council's vote on an ordinance that would restrict parking on Hudson Avenue to residents, the governing body heard from residents seeking the restriction, and from employees of the post office who complained that the parking restriction would leave them with no place to park while they were at work.
"I'm opposed to this measure because parking is nearly impossible now," mail carrier Tony Soto told the governing body.
The post office is located at 171 Broad Street with the rear of the property abutting Hudson Ave. There is currently a two-hour limit for on-street parking for nonresidents on Hudson Avenue.
But faced with complaints from local residents, the council decided to limit available parking to those who live on the street, a move the council has done for other residential neighborhoods.
The local post office has 138 employees who work staggered shifts from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m.
While there is parking at the post office site, the lot is used to park approximately 53 official vehicles, according to Leo Nard, the postmaster.
"These are the people who serve your community every day, in the rain, snow, sleet," Nard told the mayor and council, referring to the postal workers.
"I just don't understand the logic of restricting the parking (on Hudson Avenue)," the postmaster continued. "We are public servants."
As it is, employees parked on that street have to move their cars after two hours or risk a $38 parking ticket, employees noted.
"The problem is not just the post office," offered Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels. "There are other people who park there."
"I think what happens on our block is that people don't respect our street," said Hudson Avenue resident Kevin Riordan.
Mayor Pasquale Menna asked some of the postal workers if they would be willing to pay, $5 or $6 a day, to park in a parking garage if one existed.
Mail carrier Anna Downing voiced some reservations about paying. Buddy Duggan, one of the post office's shop stewards, added, "To me that sounds like a little too much."
The proposal for a parking garage has been a politically prickly issue in the borough, with downtown businesses and its management organization, RiverCenter, long supporting it and with many residents strongly opposed to paying for it.
According to Menna, a garage would cost about $25,000 per stall to construct.
With many of the area's residential streets already limited to resident parking only, employees of Red Bank businesses and other non-residents have gravitated to Hudson Avenue in search of parking. "Our street has become the last bastion for cars that have to park somewhere," said Hudson Avenue resident Tim Hogan.
"I just ask you to just let us have our street back," Hogan told the council.
And that is what the council did by voting to adopt the ordinance.
"We're trying not to penalize your employees," Councilman Michael DuPont said to post office representatives.
"The problem is bigger than the postal employees," said Councilwoman Mary-Grace Cangemi. But,she added, the postal service must, "bear the burden," to find parking.
