Delaware Ave. in OG. 7/14, 2018 Blogfinger photo. Two huge vehicles.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
The parking math is fairly simple: The two variables are parking spaces and cars. And when there is gridlock, the number of cars exceeds the number of spaces.
One sub-variable is that so many people are now driving huge cars, SUV’s and vans (as in the photo above); the effect is to reduce the number of spaces. If we all bought little cars, as they do in Europe, parking spaces would be more plentiful and easier to navigate.
Far and away, the major variable is the number of cars in town. And unlike other shore towns with parking issues, we have the Camp Meeting Association, which has considerable programming designed for out-of-towners. And we have a Chamber of Commercials which finds it necessary to have large events and to close our downtown streets intermittently. Who does that benefit? So we have more grid-lock events than other shore towns, and we are the smallest.
Part of the calculation is that many times, especially in the “off season,” there are plenty of spaces available for residents, but that doesn’t lessen the problems in-season which is now a minimum of 4 months each year. During that time-span, parking often creates problems for those who live in town, including many folks who pay taxes and others who pay rents to help pay taxes. Why are tourists considered to be more important than residents?
Hey Mayor: What do you say about that?? The mayor of Belmar says that his residents are the most important.
And then there are the games people play which affect the number of spaces. We’ve been reporting on that.
We recently mentioned handicap spaces which are plentiful in the Grove and reduce the number of available (not total) space, and which may be used inappropriately . For example, if a handicapped person has two cars, and has stickers for two cars, his wife may be seen parking one of those cars in the handicap space, but she has no handicap, only the car does. That is wrong!
There are those who say that the parking issues in the Grove are insoluble. And that is definitely true if no one tries to solve the problem. Someone pointed out that less shoppers come into town in season because people hate the “find a parking spot” quest. If so, there should be less cars and perhaps more spaces. Such a dynamic would hurt the downtown shops, but not one of the businesses in town or the Chamber of Commercials has concerned itself with resident parking.
Similarly, less big-time Saturday night shows will result in less cars on those Saturday evenings.
And every time the Township approves a multi-unit building, as will probably happen with the single-family Aurora (applying to become a 4 family site contrary to zoning and the Master Plan) and as happened many times in the past with condo conversions/no parking provided, the number of cars keeps growing while the numbers of spaces pretty much stands still.
Or if the township ignores zoning and allows the North End to become a redevelopment area with a “get-out-of-jail” card to do whatever they want, such as 165 condos and a hotel, there will be fewer spaces available and more cars, even if there is a garage for hotel guests and homeowners.
Imagine what the effect of a hotel alone would be. How about a wedding on a Saturday night? Or the opening of Hooters inside the hotel.
The parking issue is not just that; parking creates a ripple affect that can affect other variables—-such as quality of life for residents—-something which the Township and the local organizations such as the Groaners routinely ignore.
So, if you can’t get a parking space, we wish you shelter from the storm, lemonade in July, and love.
GLORIA LYNNE:
