JOhn Zerrer of Stockton
As a builder, working in town on an addition on Coryell Street, we have received five parking tickets in the last two months at $25 each.
Niece Lumber received a parking ticket while making a delivery, Marvic Supply, another, my carpenters and myself, the other three.
We have two prepaid parking spots. To occupy more than two spots on a commercial street would deny Finkles and the residents of parking so we capped it at two.
We have gotten tickets while unloading delivery trucks and have offered to move them before the tickets were written.
”Can’t do it” was the reply.
When complaints to the Police Department were lodged about the wisdom of ticketing a Niece Lumber deliver — do I need to explain why — it was reported the response was “tough; it was a legally written ticket.”
The Niece Lumber ticket was subsequently rescinded.
When I made a complaint to Mayor Del Vecchio, I was told to go see the police director. Having done that routine once before, suffering the indignity of being treated like a child gone astray, I declined.
I pressed my point of view that having renovated a number of buildings in town, Lambertville was not receiving higher taxes on those buildings as well as having received a significant dollar amount in permit fees for my projects.
In my work, I support local businesses with material and food purchases as does my crew and subs. I expressed my opinion that the policy of aggressive ticketing, extending meter hours to 9 p.m. and the rate of 20 minutes for a quarter is perceived as unwelcoming to shoppers and tradesmen working locally.
Shouldn’t we be thinking of ways to make the Lambertville experience more inviting?
I told a story of watching the meter reader ticket a lone car on Union Street even though the rest of the street was empty and seeing the look of disgust when the shopper returned to his car, package in hand, as he looked at the ticket.
I’m sure he’ll be back.
This to no avail.
We are not perfect beings. We might not have feeding the meters on our minds while engaged in our workday. At three quarters an hour, that’s a lot of quarters for the privilege of working in town.
I remember years ago how the meter reader would be out in front and stick his or her head into Finkles or Niece Lumber to let everyone know the street sweeper was coming, giving a minute or two to relocate.
Now the policy is for the meter reader to follow the street sweeper, which has the effect of producing the highest number of tickets.
The old policy was neighborly. The new policy is aggressive and impersonal.
Shops in the commercial district are not faring as well as in past years.
The City Council, police director and mayor should be doing all they can to make it easier for people to come to town and shop, for shop owners to staff their shops and tradesmen to make their service calls.
Street sweeping and writing tickets should not be a money making enterprise that overrides the needs of people, especially at a time when the economy is in the midst of a recession.
John Zerrer
Stockton

