To the Editor:
Here are my concerns about handicap parking in Ocean Grove. I hope this generates some discussion.
We have a handicap parking spot in front of the home we purchased in town. We are on the second block from the beach, and parking fills up quickly. Over the course of the 3 years we have had our house there have been maybe 2 or 3 instances of a “handicapped” person emerging from a car taking the spot. (By handicapped I mean real ambulatory disability, not the medical definition.)
More typically, like today, an older (or young overweight) couple pulls in, unpacks multiple chairs, cooler, umbrella and hikes it all down to beach. Today that couple came jogging back to the car when the rain opened up.
I also have neighbors (older) that bike miles multiple days a week and hike around town just fine, but they too park in handicap spots just in front of their building.
I’m not sure what the handicap can be that necessitates access to a preferential spot. To a non-medical layman, it looks like they are gaming the system. In fact, a friend offered to get me a tag through a connection, but I declined the offer as I am healthy but I could have gotten one.
So, here are the issues:
1. What are the standards for obtaining such a tag? How liberally do doctors offer prescriptions for the handicap designation?
2. Do others who live in town observe similar activity in relation to handicapped parking spots around the Grove ?
3. I think it demonstrates a lack of character to use the spots or to game the system to get the spots. Do others agree ?
DAVE
Ocean Grove, N.J. July 31, 2014
You all should be ashamed of yourselves.
You say that people don’t “look” handicapped and you think they should not be parking in handicapped spots.
What about people that have internal health issues like heart, muscle, nerve, etc issues? They, too, deserve to be able to park in a spot close to where they shop, eat, work, etc.
Some of you were blaming doctors that “handed them out like candy.” Let me tell you, not all physicians do that even when it IS necessary. My sister had two fractured vertebrae 10 months ago and is still in the healing stage and had not driven for about 6 months. Her doctor will not sign for her to get a HD placard to use when in someone else’s vehicle. I think that is appalling!
Free But Not Free: I am not happy with all the handicapped parking in town, but if someone is truly handicapped, then there is nothing to be done. Perhaps some approvals are fraudulently obtained, but we don’t know. The Township should be careful in checking that these applications are document the standard medical requirements–which are spelled out.
But suppose someone has had knees replaced, and their disability is that they can’t walk more than one block.
And then you see them in front of their home sawing a board, climbing a 2-step ladder, swinging a hammer, or lifting a bag of dirt. You would think that they are not disabled. But their disability is hidden at that moment.
In response to Rhoda Dendron, your statement is contradictory. If your friend with the hidden disability only parks in handicapped on the day he or she can’t walk five feet, then the disability is not hidden. If he or she parks in handicapped when they’re feeling fine, then shame on them! They should know how difficult is it is to get a parking space on the days that they really need them and have some respect for those that need them on the days that they don’t!
I contend there is no such thing as a hidden disability. If people actually meet the requirements for obtaining a placard, their disability is visible.
I live in New Mexico, travel all over the US for my job, and am in a wheelchair. I’m one of those people who need handicapped parking. If I can’t get a spot, I have to leave because I can’t get my chair out of my truck, which is rigged with a hydraulic seat and a crane to lift the chair. I also am terrified pushing through a parking lot as drivers backing out don’t see me. I have had several close calls, almost being hit.
This is a national problem and I strongly believe it is because doctors give out handicapped permits like candy. I’ve actually asked some of my doctors if they do this, and after some time and consideration, every one of them has come back and said yes, they give them out liberally. This makes it a much more difficult problem to fight, since most of the abusers are abusing legally.
I don’t know how to fight this problem, but I can tell you that this issue has severely limited my freedom. I cannot grocery shop, go to the mall, go to a doctors appointment, go to the airport, go anywhere by myself anymore because 99% of the time, I cannot get a handicapped parking space.
Not everyone has a handicap you can see.. Yes there are abuses of it as there are with everything. Take COPD or pulmonary hypertension or emphysema, some days they may be fine. Other days they may not be able to walk 5 feet..
So don’t rush to judgment
Reblogged this on Blogfinger and commented:
This is from 2014 and 2016. We are posting it now, because we have been told that some “in the know” Grovers believe that the use of handicapped permits has become “out of control” in the Grove. We walked by one block, on one side of the street, on What-the Heck Avenue which had 3 handicapped spaces, largely taking up an entire public block. —-Feel free to comment for 2018. Paul Goldfinger, editor
I absolutely agree. I own a car with my sister, who is has severe COPD. The car has an HD license plate, but I never park in handicap spots unless my sister is with me. When she is, it absolutely boils my blood when I see people using the handicap spots who have no right to do so. I see it everywhere we go—- stores, restaurants, you name it. It’s so sad.
I saw two women get out of the car yesterday, and there was a handicap sticker hanging from their rear-view mirror. Yet neither one of them displayed any form of handicap whatever! I’m wondering what favor they did for their doctor to allow them to apply for and receive a tag.
There is just no true enforcement of this. And New Jersey, being the corrupt state that it is, it shouldn’t be surprising to any of us.
I had a neighbor who was somewhat physically handicapped. She got a sticker for her car and got the police to paint a special reserved parking spot for her.
A few years ago, she told me she was moving away. I contacted Neptune police and told them that we would not need that handicapped spot on our block because the handicapped person was moving. The police insisted that the handicapped woman herself notify them. I discussed this with her and she contacted the police and the handicapped markings were painted over so that anyone can park there.
Some people are morally handicapped:
If they don’t have a phony handicapped sticker they reserve their own parking spot by putting an orange cone, a garbage can, or a chair on the street in front of their house.
Editor’s note: Three years ago we posted an article about reserving regular parking spaces on OG streets. Here is the link:https://blogfinger.net/2013/07/08/letter-to-editor-blocking-parking-spaces/
People have NO SHAME!!!
A few years ago I suffered a spinal injury and require the use of a walker every where I go. I rely 100% on handicap parking. Sadly, 99% of all the people who park in these spots are NOT handicapped. It just infuriates me everytime I’m waiting for a handicap space to become available only to see a very healthy person carrying groceries or other items return to their car.
I also have noticed the elderly who are still very healthy abuse this as if it’s their right once they turn a certain age to obtain an illegal placard from their family physician who they’ve known for the last 45 years. It makes me sick and as a TRUE handicapped person it makes my already difficult life that much harder.
What can we do about the handicap scammers like the new one on Mt Hermon Way who’s been threatening for years to get a handicapped spot because they feel they are special. Well I guess they are because they now have one. Shame on some doctors for giving them out like candy.
Well..welcome to New Jersey and the land of entitlement and “work-the-angle.”
You would be surprised. Some Ocean Grove residents are so entitled that they think when THEY are parked illegally on the wrong side of the road, blocking snow plowing, that the police should come and knock on their door and give them a special invitation to move their vehicle to avoid being towed, even though they were being inconsiderate to everyone in the community.
The attitude about community politeness and integrity has changed a LOT.
As a cardiologist, I sometimes was asked to approve handicap parking, but, and this may sound odd, it rarely happened. The reason is that cardiology has made so much progress in treating heart disease, that my patients were seldom disabled. But when I was asked, I took that responsibility very seriously. Maybe I had a reputation for being difficult, but only those who were truly disabled received my consent.
Why would any doctor put himself in the position of having his ethics questioned over a parking space? I even denied my uncle an excuse to get out of jury duty. I’m not sure, because I don’t know, but I believe that most doctors are very careful with this process.
A separate subject: A more difficult issue for doctors is when a family member asks the physician to prevent an elderly parent from driving. That was a tough one, especially when the patient would beg you not to, saying it would ruin their independent lives. Since many of those issues are neurologic (dementia, bad judgement, stroke, poor reflexes, poor vision, getting lost, etc.) I couldn’t bear that job, so I always referred them to a neurologist I knew who was willing to do it without question if it were necessary. I know this is not about parking, but I thought you all might be interested.–Paul
We have lived in/owned our home for the past forty years. Unfortunately I am unable to walk now due to a bout with viral encephalitis and use a wheelchair to get around for the past 10 years. My husband went to the DMV to request handicap license plates for our car. He was told he needed a letter from our doctor stating what was wrong with me and why the license plates and plackards were necessary. There were other forms to be filled out also.
Next he went to the Neptune Township which also requested a doctor’s letter as to the reason a handicap parking space was necessary. There were also other forms that had to be filled out there too. We now have a sign outside our home but dare not go anywhere ALL weekend in the summer if Ocean Grove has anything special going on, which we all know is all of them.
We know the space will not be there if we do. This goes on any time of the year—not just the summer. As long as there is the plackard hanging on the mirror (cannot see if expired the way it is turned) the car is legally parked. My husband has double parked to get me out and I have to wait for him to find a spot and come back to get me into the house; not nice if it is raining.
In the northern part of the state they put the handicap license plate number on the signs which is something they should do here. Every year you have to have another doctor’s letter stating the person is still alive or you have to get new car plates and hand back the placards, and when the home is sold or the handicapped person dies, the sign should be removed.
Same on our block. The true handicapped wife passed away 3 years ago, but hubby can’t keep out of the spot! I particularly enjoy seeing him walking to the beach,beach chair in hand. And we all love it when he is away for weeks at a time and none of us on the block can use the spot.
The good news is that he is moving soon. But will the town leave the spot there forever? I wonder if the price he gets for the house will include the parking spot?
I also have a handicap spot on my block. The last owner of this house was a full time resident in a wheelchair and needed a spot in front of his house, now it is a second home and the owners use it like their own private spot. They also bike and walk all over the place every day and walk to the beach carting all there beach accessories with them. Something is not right with this picture.
Neptune needs to make some changes when it comes to these spots:
1. When a house is sold any handicapped spot associated with that address should automatically be removed and if the next owner needs one they can reapply for one.
2. If the house has a usable driveway/garage they shouldn’t be able to get a handicapped spot on the street (use the driveway most of us wish we had for goodness sake).
I have 2 handicap parking spaces on my small block;
One is used by a homeowner who’s tenant got the spot for a real handicap— think she had MS. She has since moved, and the homeowner (who has a driveway) now uses the spot for themselves.
The other is used by a homeowner who walks and bikes all over town (even has a bike rack on the back of his car!!). Both of these people have the audacity to put cones in the handicap spots when they go out – as if it is not just any handicap spot, but there personal parking spot. Abuse of the system like that just burns me up!!