By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
PRINCETON — A petition drive aimed at showing Princeton Borough officials just how badly new downtown parking regulations have angered merchants, shoppers and residents has accumulated more than 1,000 signatures since its kick-off last week, according to organizers.
The targets of the petitions are ordinances, adopted earlier this month, that put an end to Sunday free parking in the borough’s central business district, expanded metered hours to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday in the same district, and instituted regular rates on Sundays in borough parking garages.
The petitions emerged from a meeting of a dozen or so independent merchants who met last week to brainstorm constructive ways of communicating their feelings about the new regulation, according to Henry Landau, of the Landau’s of Princeton clothing store on Nassau Street.
”The one way of showing the town how much (we’re in) disagreement was to get signatures both from townspeople and visitors…” said Mr. Landau, who noted several borough residents actually drove into the downtown over the weekend to sign petitions.
The petitions, which went out last Thursday and can be found in independent stores throughout Princeton, are paired with flyers discussing the new regulations. The flyer also includes a blank Princeton Borough parking ticket similar to those given to violators of the new regulations, which Princeton Borough Council adopted during a split vote earlier this month.
Mr. Landau said a new, positive development emerging from the controversy is that merchants are considering making an offer of free, on-demand business advice to the borough government. He said the new meter regulations, which come when downtown construction has actually taken many meters out of service and reduced meter revenue, show borough officials aren’t thinking like business owners.
”The whole problem here is the way they’re going about stuff,” said Mr. Landau, who said he had between 800 and 900 petition signatures in his possession as of Wednesday.
Mr. Landau said petitioners plan on delivering the documents to state officials who maintain their own, superceding state regulations on parking rules on state roads like Nassau Street. The state has not yet updated those regulations, and borough officials are expected to request the state to update its rules to match the borough’s.
”We will petition the state,” Mr. Landau said.
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