The Jersey City Council unanimously passed an ordinance establishing regulations for the use of publicly owned bike racks, but Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer says it “serves no governmental purpose” and is “nothing but political grandstanding.”
“You can’t operate business on public property without permission however this will prevent us for any need to going to court. This really makes it very clear to people that while the sharing economy is great and it’s something that we want to encourage, if you are using public property, you need permission,” stated Ward E Councilwoman Candice Osborne.
This will help control the overflow of public bicycle racks, especially for riders who use the PATH to commute to New York, she also said.
The ordinance limits the use of publicly-owned Bicycle Parking Racks to commercial bicycles for a period of no more than two consecutive hours.
There will also be a minimum fine of $100 to a recommended $1,000 upon violation.
“Based on Councilwoman Candice Osborne, they tried to work it out with Hoboken bike share company but seems like they are not understanding the issue and they are not trying to cooperate with the City of Jersey City, then we have to exercise our powers or ordinance,” stated Ward D Councilman Michael Yun.
However, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop had declined several potential solutions to this problem, essentially calling the measure passed by the Jersey City Council useless.
“Hudson Bike Share has been enormously successful, and the new ebb and flow of Hoboken includes the daily movement of Hudson Bike Share bikes from every corner of our City to transportation hubs and more,” she said in a statement.
“I advocated for Hoboken residents who work in Jersey City to also be able to ride there as well and offered to provide space for 20 Citi Bikes at Hoboken Terminal in exchange for space for 20 bikes at Jersey City transportation hubs.”
“As an alternative, I offered to pay for the cost of additional public bike racks in Jersey City. Mayor Fulop refused all of these offers. The Hudson Bike Share no fee zones have already been cancelled in order to accommodate Mayor Fulop’s claims of overcrowding at Jersey City public bike racks. Since the cancellation, virtually no Hudson Bike Share users have used their bike share bikes to ride to their jobs in Jersey City.”
Zimmer concluded that Hudson Bike Share “has nothing to do with” overcrowded bike racks in Jersey City, exclaiming that the newly approved measure “serves no governmental purpose and is nothing but political grandstanding” that actually restricts Jersey City bike users from having access to the Hoboken Terminal/PATH.
The Jersey City Council voted 8-0 with Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera absent due to family emergency.
Two political grandstand ears trying to out grandstand each other. The public nuisance bikes and Mayors need to be kicked to the curb.
For what? More of your corrupt heroes awaiting indictment? How’s your pal Carmelo doing?
If only you could gather enough signatures on a petition to even run for office. No one would even sign those last fall would they?