Jersey City Council passes measure to extend some parking meters to 9 p.m.

The Jersey City Council passed an ordinance to enforce parking meters in designated zones from the 12-hour period of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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Yvonne Balcer, a Jersey City resident, called the ordinance “handicapping people who pay taxes in Jersey City.”

“It is outrageous that we would have meters pass 5 o’clock in the city when people are coming home from work and it’s outrageous. You are putting your hands in people’s pockets so that they can pay fines.”

Since meters have different effective times based on its location, Jersey City Ward B Councilman Chico Ramchal asked “how are we going to know which meter is 5 o’clock, and which is 9 o’clock?”

According to this ordinance, there will not be a change to the current effective times of the meters. If the meter is only effective until 5 p.m., it remains so.

However, if a meter does not currently have a designated effective time frame, then it will default to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Corporation Counsel Jeremy Farrell explained that meters are labeled specific to their areas and that is why not all meters end at 5 p.m., when people return home from work.

“Central Avenue is primarily a commercial district. You are going to want to turn over those meters. You are not going want people parking there for a long period of time,” he said.

“But whereas in a mixed-use area like on Bergen Avenue most of those businesses are closed around 5 – 6 so it might make sense.”

Jersey City Council President Rolando Lavarro suggested that before the “9-9” goes into effect, improvements on signage on the meters should be made since some are torn off or weathered.

“As long as they guarantee that there [are] stickers or signage on all these meters, in appropriate places, if there are exceptions to the 9-9 rule,” said Lavarro.

Before final vote, Lavarro made a motion to amend the ordinance to be effective May 1, 2016 to give the Department of Public Works and Meter Enforcement division enough time to improve signage for all the meter.

The amendment, and ordinance, was approved unanimously.

9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Parking Areas: