Parking or just Barking?

[Guest]

I cannot help but notice that last township meeting minutes have many references to the downtown parking "situation." It seems that each of our elected representatives has this on their agenda.

Before we spend taxpayer money on such a "situation," can we please have a valid justification for why this is needed. I and many of my neighbors believe that the parking situation is simply what owners of poor businesses downtown tell themselves for why they are failing and not truly a problem or issue.

I park on Main Street every day, several times, in fact, and I have never had a problem finding a place to park. It has never stopped me from getting to the businesses that I frequent.

While parking seems like an easy thing to wrap your head around, I ask the township to think more strategically about what the true issues and challenges are to downtown businesses and not simply appeal to these business owners misconceptions with all of our tax money that could be used for much more important, shared causes, such as reducing noise pollution from route 130 (just to name one).

Take, for example, Cranbury Pizza or Teddy's or Claire's or the Rooster. These businesses flourish in the current parking "situation". Yeah, the many dusty interior decorating shops are struggling. Believe me, it has nothing to do with parking.

Please show concrete, quantitative justification for such causes before spending our money on more blacktop

[guest144]

I, too, disagree that Cranbury has a general parking problem. My experience is that it has a specific parking problem related to afternoon dismissal at the Cranbury School. On a daily basis a good number of parents of "walkers" seem to drive down to the area of the school, park their cars, and then pick their kids up at the walker's door. (I've done this, too, so I am not being critical of this practice.) Ever since the former PNC Bank parking lot became private, however, parking on Main Street anywhere near the school at pickup time is a disaster. It gets even worse on bad-weather days or when piles of snow cut even further into the inventory of parking spaces.

None of this is helped, I believe, by the single source of ingress/egress into the school. While I am not yet sold on the need for an independent public library, I was happy to see it would possibly introduce a second entrance into the school complex and, perhaps, some additional after school pick-up parking.

[Guest]

Please Please Please put a second entrance / exit into the school. TC members do you hear me?????

I do not think there is any parking problem at all. I also hope the TC encourages the growth of Route 130 business. New rateables will help more than hurt IMO.

[Guest]

Stop complaining about parking. The Rooster was approved without parking and nobody complained. Now we can all live with it. Next time a restaurant is built, don't allow it to be approved without a parking lot. End of story.

[Guest]

There is definately a parking problem in this town, and it's on Maplewood Ave. Obviously none of you use that road or you wouldn't be so smug about your oblivious opinions. Just this week a mid sized truck had to back all the way down the street because it could not get by the two cars parked haphazardly opposite each other in the snow banks. People cannot back out of their driveways because they will back right into a parked car. C'mon township and enforcement, where are you?

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

Parking on Maplewood Ave. near the old PNC bank area is worse than before. There is no doubt about that. People used to park on the PNC area now have to park on either side of the street. There is no way to accommodate 4 parallel cars (one on each side and in each direction) on that street.

[Guest]

[Guest]

Another entrance to the school is an important issue. In my opinion, this is a more important issue than the parking issue for the TC to consider.

Once we have another entrance, the available parking in the school area can be used as a public parking area.

[Guest]

[Guest]

Maplewoods problems are because the Blue Roosters staff park there. They never parked at the PNC!

[Guest]

Entrance to school needs to be addressed. It will help with parking and more importantly it is a public safety issue that is long over due for correction.

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

How about a referendum?