Overnight parking in SO
PurpleMonkeyDshwashr said:
annielou said:
In my experience you have to have a good reason for calling in overnight parking. If you say it's for a guest, u get charged $5. You have to make stuff up, like dead battery, or your kid's inspection lapsed and he needs to keep his car in the driveway. If u have ample space on your property, no problem. If you don't, then it's a hassle.
That's not my experience at all. I call in all the time, never denied, doesn't cost me a penny. They are always very friendly.
Always have no issue.
0dollars2cents said:
all of your concerns can be addressed by updating existing parking signs to say "No Overnight Parking in South Orange".
u guys really love these obscure signs at town entry points. bizarre.
ctrzaska said:
0dollars2cents said:
What's your point?
unless you live in some rural part of South Orange I've never visited, I posit your street is no more than a 1/4 mile from a parking sign. so anyone who parks on your street can find the nearest parking sign and logically assume that rule applies to your street as well. THAT sign should say "No Overnight Parking". What's the argument against my proposal other than inertia cuz "everyone else does it this way".
jimmurphy said:
There is no "existing sign" on my street.
There's no logic in that premise. Because I see a no parking sign on some street a few blocks away, I'm supposed to assume it applies to mine also? Um, no. And so if you slap some random no overnight parking mention there as well, I'm supposed to think that also applies to me? Again, no.
You live here. You should be familiar with the rules. It's not the town's job to advertise every line of municipal code on billboards at every entrance to town.
Yes, they could have let him off, as happened to me when I first moved to Mwd, but I was working in the empty (literally) house at 3AM with all the lights on... they knocked, explained, and I moved the car into the empty driveway. But they assuredly don't have to, and they haven't been as kind on another occasion when I simply forgot. I paid it. I'm sure if you were sitting on the front step they would have just asked you to move it (though if it's the SOPA, then maybe not, but PD aren't out to get anyone).
I'm not in love the the signs at entry points, but it's sure as hell a lot better than littering the streets with separate signs, or much larger ones to replace any existing time/street-specific signs.
When we moved to SO, I was ticketed for not wearing a bike helmet, an ordinance I was completely unaware of, though later I saw one sign on Ridgewood at the border of Maplewood. I not only had to pay a fine but had to go to court (along with a couple dozen other miscreants), since the trustees hadn't bothered to specify a penalty when they wrote the law. No "pass" for new residents, nonresidents, anybody; just a rant from a really rude prosecutor. I seethed for way too long a time.
My advice to the OP is not to give this incident a lot of space in his life. Pay the fine (or go to court if you want, and then pay the fine), pound your head on the wall, or keyboard, a couple of times, and let it go as soon as you can.
my suggestion would be an un-intrusive sign on *existing* parking poles, with just 6 words: "No Overnight Parking in South Orange". Any pole that currently has a 2 Hour Parking sign would be exempt since this implies no overnight parking. So guesstimate maybe 50% of *existing* parking poles in town would be affected.
Call me crazy, but this makes more sense than obscure signs no one reads which, on occasion, piss people off needlessly and steal their money.
the job of attorneys and realtors is to facilitate home buying process. Totally illogical to place responsibility of explaining local parking ordinance on these parties. Parking signs should dictate parking policy, not real estate attorneys or brokers. Think about that and convince me otherwise.
ctrzaska said:
I'm not in love the the signs at entry points, but it's sure as hell a lot better than littering the streets with separate signs, or much larger ones to replace any existing time/street-specific signs.
0dollars2cents said:
Any pole that currently has a 2 Hour Parking sign would be exempt since this implies no overnight parking. So guesstimate maybe 50% of *existing* parking poles in town would be affected.
Wrong, if someone parks from 2am to 3am, say visiting someone after a night out, etc, they can't park on the street even though they're not going to be there for more than two hours, and still run the risk of getting a ticket.
So I guess you can't be spontaneous in South Orange without paying the price.
this just proves existing system is dumb.
thanks all for the input. I guess obscure no overnight parking signs at town entry points are Too Big To Fail.
spontaneous said:
0dollars2cents said:Wrong, if someone parks from 2am to 3am, say visiting someone after a night out, etc, they can't park on the street even though they're not going to be there for more than two hours, and still run the risk of getting a ticket.
Any pole that currently has a 2 Hour Parking sign would be exempt since this implies no overnight parking. So guesstimate maybe 50% of *existing* parking poles in town would be affected.
When a regulations is town wide, the state statute requires signs at the entry points. It is that simple.
I have called the police many times to let them know that I had a car in the street overnight and for the most part I don't ever remember them even asking for a reason. They just asked for the model, color and plate number. One time I just gave them the color and the model of the car but could not remember the plate number they said that was ok.
I want fewer signs - not more. and certainly not larger ones. My realtor did tell us at the closing and she did give us a welcome kit with coupons, information about the town regulations, information about the pool and a package of cookies.
mikescott said:
My realtor did tell us at the closing and she did give us a welcome kit with coupons, information about the town regulations, information about the pool and a package of cookies.
How recent was that? It was routine when I first moved to Maplewood in the 80s.
Back in the 1980's... it was routine till the early 1990's. However, I do know someone who recently purchased a house and his realtor gave him a package of information and included train schedules.
mikescott said:
Back in the 1980's... it was routine till the early 1990's. However, I do know someone who recently purchased a house and his realtor gave him a package of information and included train schedules.
No cookies?
Make America bake again!
there is literally nothing simple about calling the Police Department every time u need to park on a mostly empty street. it's a waste of time and resources for both parties.
this is an outdated law with a dumb, illogical enforcement mechanism with explicit goal of collecting unofficial taxes from unsuspecting residents and visitors. Period.
mikescott said:
When a regulations is town wide, the state statute requires signs at the entry points. It is that simple.
I have called the police many times to let them know that I had a car in the street overnight and for the most part I don't ever remember them even asking for a reason. They just asked for the model, color and plate number. One time I just gave them the color and the model of the car but could not remember the plate number they said that was ok.
I want fewer signs - not more. and certainly not larger ones. My realtor did tell us at the closing and she did give us a welcome kit with coupons, information about the town regulations, information about the pool and a package of cookies.
Did you ever wonder why there were no cars parked on the street overnight?
0dollars2cents said:
Did you know SO does not allow overnight parking? I've lived here for a decent # of years and did not know SO has a town-wide ban on overnight parking. My street signs do not say so, and my street does not have a 2 hour limit either. Apparently SO is one of those towns that has signs at entry points to the town which indicate overnight parking is forbidden. I can honestly say I've never seen one of these signs.
What do you guys make of this enforcement mechanism? To me, it's a cheap way for the town to take people's money.
An out-of-town friend got a ticket a few weeks ago for overnight parking. My driveway was full and I made an honest mistake telling him it would be okay. I submitted a dismissal request and was denied. No explanation given. I'd fight it in court on principle but the ticket is in my friend's name and he lives far away.
if any powers-that-be are reading this--stop stealing people's money. I pay more than enough taxes to live here. This is not cool. I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this honest mistake. If you want to enforce no overnight parking then street signs should reflect it. Not some obscure sign that no one reads when they enter South Orange.
Stuff like this makes people hate government. it adds up a little by a little and then you get Trump. Just sayin. Rant over.
I live in Orange, several times removed form SOMA and even I know there's no overnight parking unless a permit is issued. The signs are everywhere.
yahooyahoo said:
Did you ever wonder why there were no cars parked on the street overnight?
0dollars2cents said:
The law as pointed out was for public safety purposes. and my guess is the revenue from this is tiny -- Most people are aware of the ordinance.
But go ahead.. keep on with your whining on here - because if you really wanted a change you would reach out to an elected official.
0dollars2cents said:
there is literally nothing simple about calling the Police Department every time u need to park on a mostly empty street. it's a waste of time and resources for both parties.
this is an outdated law with a dumb, illogical enforcement mechanism with explicit goal of collecting unofficial taxes from unsuspecting residents and visitors. Period.
mikescott said:
When a regulations is town wide, the state statute requires signs at the entry points. It is that simple.
I have called the police many times to let them know that I had a car in the street overnight and for the most part I don't ever remember them even asking for a reason. They just asked for the model, color and plate number. One time I just gave them the color and the model of the car but could not remember the plate number they said that was ok.
I want fewer signs - not more. and certainly not larger ones. My realtor did tell us at the closing and she did give us a welcome kit with coupons, information about the town regulations, information about the pool and a package of cookies.
We knew about "no overnight parking" from when we first moved to Maplewood (same rule as SO and most other NJ towns) because we saw the signs every time we came into town. Seems to me that signs on the main roads into town are the BEST way to inform everyone of a law that applies to all streets, rather than having to put a sign on every block or modify existing signs. (Of course, I'm sure that YOU would not complain about the "hit" on your taxes that we would all take to do that, right?)
The one we didn't know about was that it is a violation to park facing the wrong way, even right in front of your own house. We found out one night when we were "shuffling" cars in the driveway and, as a result, just parked one car out front (faced the wrong way) and then accidentally forgot to put it back in overnight. But the ticket wasn't for parking overnight (a lower fine.) Instead it was for parking in the wrong direction. Lesson learned.
Another parking rule is that you can't park in front of your driveway(or anyone's) at anytime.
If overnight parking was permitted, there would be lots of cars that never ever move. I don't want more signs which require more poles clogging up my view, or my tax dollars to pay for them. I want my neighbors to learn the rules and pass that information on to their guests.
Without overnight parking restrictions I can park my broken-down ****** car in front of your house......indefinitely. Nothing stopping me. Nothing. That's not the reason for the ordinance, but that, along with not wanting to live in a place that looks like Queens, makes me happy they have this ordinance.
When I was first looking for a house in Maplewood I was told of the ban on overnight street parking. I was familiar with such ordinances because a long time after taking a date home she told me that I would have to leave before 2:00AM or call the police for permission to park overnight.
I do not know why realtors or attorneys do not advise new home buyers of the ordinance. As indicated they did so years ago.
Posting signs all around Town would be very difficult. New residents and out of Town visitors ought to be given a pass on their first offense.