Parking Woes - Part 3

As I posted previously, the Village is looking to try to alleviate the crushing demand for commuter parking for residents, while also trying to balance the concerns of residents who live in close proximity to the train station and where commuters are currently parking all day in front of their homes.

Several weeks ago, the first part of the equation was addressed with the passage of an ordinance on first reading to limit parking to 2 hours between 8am and noon on specific streets. Tonight, we are expected to address the second part of the equation with an ordinance on first reading to limit the following areas/streets to resident commuter parking only between 6am and 11am:

Vose Avenue - East side, beginning at a point 190 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Montrose Avenue and extending 128 feet South therefrom.
Meeker Street - West side, beginning at a point 115 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Mountain House Road and extending 348 feet South therefrom.
Clark Street - West side, beginning at a point 64 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of Meadowbrook Place and extending 656 feet North therefrom.
North Ridgewood Road - East side, beginning at a point 800 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of West South Orange Avenue and extending 128 feet North therefrom.
North Ridgewood Road - East side, beginning at a point 52 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Mead Street and extending 260 feet South therefrom.
Ralston Avenue - South side, beginning at a point 30 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Vose Avenue and extending 84 feet East therefrom.
Third Street - North side, beginning at a point 38 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Church Street and extending 150 feet East therefrom.
Third Street - North side, beginning at a point 255 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Church Street and extending 106 feet East therefrom.
Third Street - North side, beginning at a point 397 feet East of the prolongation of the easterly curb line of Church Street and extending 20 feet East therefrom.
Church Street - East side, beginning at a point 200 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of West South Orange Avenue and extending 106 feet South therefrom.
Prospect Street - West side, beginning at a point 32 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Milligan Place and extending 184 feet South therefrom.
Prospect Street - West side, beginning at a point 32 feet South of the prolongation of the southerly curb line of Second Street and extending 20 feet South therefrom.
Academy Street - West side, beginning at a point 35 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of Second Street and extending 84 feet North therefrom.
Academy Street - West side, beginning at a point 62 feet North of the prolongation of the northerly curb line of Third Street and extending 172 feet North therefrom.

In addition, the East side of Meadowbrook Lane will also be restricted to resident commuter parking from November 15 through March 15.


This results in a net gain of:
66 resident commuter parking spaces for South Orange Station
52 resident commuter parking spaces for Mountain Station
45 "seasonal" resident commuter parking spaces along Meadowbrook Lane which is virtually equidistant to either station.

A visual representation of this is as follows (where red represents new 2 hour parking and green represents new commuter parking):

View Larger Map

Clearly, no solution is ever perfect, but this is a great start to putting a dent in the excessive waiting list that currently exists for commuter parking, while also addressing the quality of life concerns of homeowners.

It is expected that both ordinances will be heard together on second reading on Dec 15th, where a Public Hearing will be held. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your feedback.

Glory Days

It's a little more than 24 hours since Barack Obama was named as "President-Elect" and the significance and magnitude of this election still has not fully sunk in. While all the polls heading in to the election looked favorable, there is always uncertainty. However, watching the thousands of people gathered in Chicago last night, as well as the scene repeated across the world from Times Square to Asia was truly remarkable and historic. For the first time since the immediate aftermath of 9/11, it appeared as there was hope once again for the world to come together again. Even John McCain offered a well delivered and gracious speech in an inspiring tone that was absent from the campaign trail, but ironically reminiscent of the John McCain that most people initially learned to like & respect many years ago.

While the honeymoon will quickly fade, I have great hope that we are on the cusp of an amazing new chapter of American pride, prosperity and global respect. Let's all join together to support President Obama. Even in tough times, let us all remember the amazing feeling of hope and optimism we experienced together on November 4, 2008. If we don't squander this goodwill, this really can be the beginning of Glory Days.

Man at the Top

Man at the top says it's lonely up there
If it is man, I don't care
From the big white house to the parking lot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

After 8 long years of the Bush Administration, in less than 48 hours we will hopefully have the final official news of our new President. I always find Presidential elections fascinating and far more exciting, interesting, not to mention MEANINGFUL than any Super Bowl, World Series or Stanley Cup. For weeks, I have been diligently following the polls at www.electoral-vote.com, the analysis at www.politico.com, the sensationalism at www.huffingtonpost.com as well as watching the pundits on MSNBC and CNN, and of course the satire on The Daily Show and SNL. It still baffles me when people say they aren't interested or are "undecided"...especially this year, when the difference could not be more stark on virtually all policies of substance and the stakes couldn't be greater - From the Environment to the Economy to the Supreme Court to America's standing in the World.

While certainly all the polls seem to be leaning towards Barack Obama, I hope people are not complacent and that they actually get out there and vote.

I certainly do not want to jinx things, especially after the fiascoes of 2000 and 2004, but I am cautiously optimistic that Barack Obama will win by a rather substantial margin. Based on the polls I have seen, I think it is fair to predict that Obama will get at least 348 Electoral votes and could get as many as 369, by winning North Dakota, Montana and pulling out a surprise in Georgia. In addition, I think Obama will get all the current "swing states" (Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, Colorado and Missouri) with the possible exception of Florida. If that happens, it'll be the largest electoral victory since Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole in 1996.

Now - make sure you get out there and VOTE on Tuesday, so we can hopefully welcome President-Elect Obama on Wednesday!

Land of Hope and Dreams

Last Thursday night, the Village held the first "Community Conversation" around the future vision for our town. We had a decent turnout of over 100 people who initially met in the Little Theater of South Orange Middle School for an overview of the process from the Cecil Group - the Boston-based planning and design firm hired to facilitate and design the vision. After describing the overall process, everyone assembled broke off into 6 smaller groups in separate classrooms, each with a facilitator. In the room I was in, we went around the room introduced ourselves and stated our "vision" for the town, which was recorded on flip-charts by the facilitator. After everyone was done, each person was given 4 colored stickers and told to place the stickers on the flipcharts next to the idea(s) they liked the best. Finally, the votes were tallied and the 4 or 5 highest vote getters were named the winners. All groups then reconvened in the Theater where the "winning" ideas in each group were revealed to everyone.

Mark your calendars now for the next session on December 2, 2008 at 7:30pm in the SOPAC loft.

The objective of the next session will be to "Review the alternatives raised and discuss the different concepts and the opportunities and challenges they pose."

As new information is collected, it will be posted on the Village website at www.southorange.org/vision.

If you want to be added to the email list for notification of upcoming meetings, send an email to vision@southorange.org