Councilman
Kenneth Gonzalez

PERTH AMBOY – Along with Amboy Avenue 3 hour parking, Councilman Kenneth Gonzalez took up the  concerns of some of the residents who were blindsided on Mary Street when was converted to one-way. Gonzalez says, “To have parking on only one side of the street is not helping the residents who complained of lack of parking. Perhaps we can do parking on both sides of the streets. Do we need 23 feet from the corner of the street for fire trucks to turn in there?”

Fire Chief Abraham Pitre answered that question. He mentioned Rector Street which is also narrow where it is difficult for some fire trucks to turn. Pitre said, “To have parking on both sides on Mary Street would be difficult, especially if you have vehicles parked directly across the street from one another.”

Council President Joel Pabon mentioned that there are a lot of back streets in the City that are narrow. “Now you have people flying on Mary Street and there are arguments that people are trying to hold spots for relatives or friends who come to visit. I spoke to Frank Dann (Director of Public Works) about possible solutions for the DPW vehicles. The only other spot for people to park who live on Mary Street is the highway.”

Business Administrator Jillian Barrick said, “We need to look at this further.”

Pabon suggested, “Public Works, the Police Department and the B.A. should meet with Residents who live on Mary Street.”

Councilman Fernando Irizarry said, “Painting yellow lines on the curbs will not solve the problem. People park there anyway. The City doesn’t need any more lawsuits. We have enough. The Business Administrator should look at the issues related to illegal housing.”

Barrick answered, “We are looking at other streets besides Mary Street when it comes to illegal housing. There should be enforcement and we should insure that secondary housing meets all legal requirements for secondary housing. The City Attorney and Code Enforcement are looking at other towns to see how they handle illegal housing.”

Police Chief Benjamin Ruiz talked about the notification process to determine whether or not there are any changes to streets. “We’ll survey the area, ask residents and look at various turning angles. This is done with help of the Fire Department and Department of Public Works. You see how many driveways and handicapped parking spots there are. A lot of residents (Mary Street) knew about turning their streets into one-way and was glad that something was finally done.”

Council President Joel Pabon was surprised at this because other residents from that street told him something different. He said, “These residents who he spoke to knew nothing about making Mary Street one-way until a few days before the signs went up.”

B.A. Jillian Barrick concluded this discussion saying that she and other directors would like to meet with residents (Mary Street) before we can make any recommendations. Hopefully we can have answers by the end of September.”

Another Street that had its share of problems was Amboy Avenue’s active business section. 3 Hour Parking was recently implemented and some of the residents who live on that street were not happy.

Councilman Kenneth Gonzalez said he met with a man who is about 80 years old who lives on that street. “Some of these residents have been adversely impacted by this 3 hour limit. The gentleman I spoke to said that he didn’t want to constantly move his car unnecessarily.”

B.A. Jillian Barrick said, “We are trying to get a meeting to be held on August 21st at 6 p.m. to be held either in the Council Chambers or in a place on Amboy Avenue, perhaps at the Charter School to discuss a solution with the residents who live on Amboy Avenue. The ordinance creating the 3 hour limit has been suspended temporarily until after this meeting takes place. This is a difficult street, because it’s heavily mixed with residents and businesses.”