Councilwoman Castellano's Transportation Plan for Hoboken

Hoboken, with a 19th Century street grid in a state with the highest auto insurance rates in the country, has never been friendly to car owning residents. We've made great progress in fighting a mostly losing battle.

When the City Council voted to install meters on Sinatra Drive, below Stevens, Castellano voted "NO". When the revenue wa not realized - Castellano sponsored a resolution to remove the meters and return the parking spaces to the residents.

PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2000 New Parking Spaces

During my time in office I've devoted a lot of time to Parking and Transportation issues. I helped to create over 2,000 new parking spaces in Hoboken. I've supported the changes in parking regulations that create more parking while opposing the rules that would penalize seniors and those with limited mobility and resources. My actions directly resulted in free visitors permits for those 62 and older so that our seniors can have the companionship, visitors and home help they need without having to apply to City Hall at every visit.

Lone Vote Against Dissolving the Parking Authority

I opposed the dissolution of the Hoboken Parking Authority, not because I thought they did such a great job, but because while in office I've seen more success come from privatization of services and more failure come of our government taking over. (I also did not agree with the plundering their budget to plug budget gaps caused by overspending.) I opposed the dissolution because there was no plan to replace the agency. There was no plan for management. There was no plan for staff. There was no plan for a budget. How were our laws going to be enforced?

Created Loading and Drop Off Zones

I proposed the creation of a resident drop off zone at 333 River Street and restoring resident parking on River Street between 3rd and 4th streets and 20-minute meters for shoppers. It was at my insistence that River Street was changed from a planned 4-lane highway to a 2 lane, north/south route with resident parking on both sides.

Improved Street Safety

My advocacy has resulted in "no turn on red signs" at intersections requested by residents where those turns endangered lives. And new stop signs where they are needed. And by relentlessly calling PSE&G and the Port Authority I was able to coordinate actually getting the traffic lights at River between 3rd and 4th to function.

Fighting For You!

When the City raised the parking fee at the Hudson St.Garages a whopping $25.00, I voted "NO."

When the City proposed putting meters on Vezzetti Way, a stretch of 123 parking spaces along Observer Hwy., I fought against the meters – and I didn't stop there. I also lobbied to restore the original intent, which had been compromised over the years. The original plan was for the 123 spaces to be designated as resident only parking. I succeeded in achieving these goals.

Resolution

Meters were also planned for both sides of Washington St., from 7th to 14th St. Thanks to my efforts, that proposal never got to the table.

PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

Our streets have become highways for commuters looking to find a quick way out of the tunnel traffic. Because our Ward sits at the end of Sinatra Drive and the end of Observer Highway, we've born the brunt of this. As most of Hoboken's shopping district is located where we live, our parking and traffic problems are made even worse.

Being an entrepreneur and small business owner (I own and run City Discount House), I've spent a lot of time looking at this overall problem and coming up with long-term solutions. A few years ago there was a movement to create a new comprehensive traffic plan for Hoboken. I fully supported that effort, but in the past few years that effort seems to have died. We have to revive the comprehensive traffic plan. This City spent a tremendous sum of money on consultants to help draft this plan, only to toss it out with the change of administration. The plan needs to be re-examined and reconsidered and it needs to be put into action now.

Improve and Realign Hoboken's Roadways

We have to coordinate with the County to improve and realign some of Hoboken's roadways. (Many of our roads are controlled by the County, not the City) Most importantly we have to get a new road built along the Western Corridor of the City that could take the North/South through traffic off our streets and divert it from Weehawken right into Jersey City, bypassing our neighborhoods. By taking all but the local traffic off of our streets, we can go a long way toward making our streets safer and saner.

Adding MORE Parking Spaces

I believe there are more spaces to be had in the First Ward by utilizing existing parking lots and encouraging construction of garages on existing paved, level lots. These lots include the North Fork Bank lot at 3rd and Washington Streets, the lot at Observer Hwy. and Washington St., lot at 1st and Washington Streets, and the Commerce Bank lot at 2nd and Hudson Streets.

I believe Hoboken needs to explore public/private partnerships to create more municipal garages on these lots. Locating garages on these lots will not increase main street traffic and will go a long way toward providing employee, visitor and resident parking.

Increase the Use of Our Public Parking Facilities

A top priority of the City's new parking entity has to be increasing the use of our current public parking facilities. Signage, cost structure, management - all these factors need to be reviewed and reassessed. While processing traffic tickets is a necessary job, we need to start looking at the forest through the trees. We need a big picture approach to a big problem.

Greatly Increase and Improve the Enforcement of Our Current Rules and Regulations

We also have to greatly increase and improve enforcement of all of our current parking rules and regulations. Passing laws is great, but only if those laws are enforced. The resident and non-resident regulations have to be enforced and those who violate them have to face the penalties. This has to be done IMMEDIATELY.

But the laws also have to be enforceable. I have opposed the most recent parking changes because I thought the new rules were extremely restrictive to residents, unfair, difficult to follow and completely unenforceable. If anyone monitors the ongoing public discussion of the parking situation my criticisms have been borne out. We cannot have government by press release anymore. What we need are real rules, and real laws that solve our very real problems.