Point Beach Parking Plan Expands Into District 3

Point Beach Council voted narrowly late Tuesday night to expand the overnight, summertime parking plan into a section of District 3.

The 4-3 Tuesday night vote, at about 11:40 p.m., went down the same way as the vote on July 9 to pass the ordinance on first reading. Council members William Mayer, Stephen Reid and Andy Cortes voted against it; Kristine Tooker, Bret Gordon and Dave Cavagnaro voted for it, with Mayor Vincent Barrella breaking the tie and voting for it.

Reid said he has visited the affected neighborhood, talked to residents and also gone into that area late at night "to make sure it was safe."

"I heard more people saying they're against it," he said. "There are three or four people here tonight saying they're against it, so I have to vote no."

Cortes and Reid voted no without comment, but in the past said they simply do not understand why it would be necessary to expand the parking plan into District 3.

Tooker said she feels it's a good move to bring the plan back to District 3 because it has worked "beautifully in District 4," adding she was speaking as a lifelong resident of District 4 who recently moved to District 1.

"Almost everyone I've heard from, except for maybe one email, was overwhelmingly in favor of this, compared to the people who don't want it," Tooker said. "I didn't know that District 3 has a lot of the same problems as District 4, so it's good people are letting us know that."

Three residents spoke against the parking plan moving back into a section of District 3, as it had been earlier this summer, and four spoke for it. By the time the public hearing came up, it was late and many residents had left. 

Rich Beckenhauer, a Forman Avenue resident, said he had not been able to get the town's "homework" on why officials believed the parking plan was needed in District 3.

"We've had some problems, but we're not complaining," he said, adding he was concerned the town was imposing ordinances "willy nilly."

"Other than that, it's a great city and we love living here," he said.

Rick Cioppa said he has lived on Forman for 14 years and hasn't had a problem.

"I think maybe twice I was woken up at night," Cioppa said. 

Patrick English said he is against parking plan in his neighborhood and then left the meeting. Barrella noted, during the latter part of the meeting when there was a public hearing on the parking plan ordinance, that English will not be affected by the plan because he lives on Atlantic, which is not included.

"It's basically Laurel Court, Trenton and Forman, three blocks," Barrella said.

Kathleen Griswold, who lives on Saint Louis Avenue, came to the meeting armed with a stack of petitions signed by residents in favor of the parking plan returning to part of District 3.

She said she and her neighbor spent five hours talking to their neighbors and collecting petitions.

Griswold, who had also spoken strongly in favor of the District 3 addition at the July 9 meeting, said that Superstorm Sandy had forced some of her neighbors out of the homes who are still not back.

That leaves the remaining residents more isolated from each other and more vulnerable to unwanted disturbances by non-residents making noise, dumping trash and worse, she said.

"There are single women living alone," she said. "There are people in the street, changing clothes. People have to take their kids in because people are naked. There are people having sex on people's property. Someone defecated on my property close to my house. The police are doing the best they can, but they can't be everywhere."

Barrella noted that Griswold is the sister of former Councilman Tim Lurie who had voted against the pilot parking plan when he was still on council.

"So for Kathy to say it's important to have this plan in place is something," Barrella said.

He said he understands it's an inconvenience for residents who have to make sure their parking placards are in place on their dashboards and that he hates to see residents get tickets. However, he said he believes this is what most residents want for their neighborhood and he was voting yes, prompting a bit of applause from a small number of residents still in the room.