Hi Reader,

Some background

To help make sense of things, I make maps. We (the Borough in public meetings) have been talking about parking over the last 9 months. Basically, we put together a comprehensive ordinance to address a lot of problems with the current ordinance.

This email is to try to answer some questions and deal with misconceptions.

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As I write this, I got an email as well as another email complaining about a lack of response.

Unified information

I encourage people to get emails sent directly from our Borough. I'm just as likely as the next person to leave out details. And I think email blasts should automatically be posted to the website. But that's a different issue.

My thoughts on the ordinance

First, I am appreciative for the amount of thought that has gone into this. We have had meetings specifically about parking. We have competent parking enforcement staff throughout the day who are present and notice trends, and we are trying to have official ordinances that make enforcement more effective.
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The ordinance that we will vote on this evening allows the Borough to enforce parking in areas where there have been complaints. Park Mobile also helps us to enforce parking in a way that we couldn't with meters. We are switching from paid parking permits to free permits for residents, with a limit of two per household.

What's the change on Cedar, between West and Hillside? I think the change is that we will go from 3 hour parking on one side of the street that was not enforceable to 3 hour parking enforced using the Park Mobile App.

Let's try the parking changes for 6 months and see how it works. We can provide a way to monitor the effects of the change rather than fearing the worst. Making the entire block resident only would prohibit a visitor for parking even briefly.

One question to test is whether the Park Mobile App truly attracts people to park there. In 20+ years, I have never parked on Cedar to go shopping. I've parked close to West Ave to go into the post office, and I have parked on Cedar to visit someone for a few minutes.

People want permit parking. But then lots of people want an exemption for care givers, long term visitors, etc. The Borough tries to be accommodating, and then people abuse systems. Parking issues often get pushed from block to block.

If resident households have free permits for two cars, I recognize that some households will have three. And some households also have four, and this affects their neighbors who simply want to get both their kids and their groceries safely into the house.

Final thought

Parking has upset a lot of people, and Council is trying to make the best of a pedestrian oriented community impacted by cars. Let's try this ordinance for 6 months, document it, and make targeted adjustments as needed.

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Thank you,

Steve Spindler

Council Representative
Jenkintown Ward 1

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