Parking a Problem
kthnry said:
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
Another problem in the evening is the people lined up in the driving lane of the train parking lot, cars idling, waiting to pick up a passenger getting off the train. Other cars cannot get by them to exit the parking lot. Cars cannot back out of the parking spaces because these cars are blocking the driving lane. This would be a hindrance to emergency services if the need arises.
That’s a mess, and completely unnecessary. I’d love to see that prohibited.
It is prohibited. What is needed is better enforcement.
For what its worth, sometimes I have found that parking on the Memorial Park side of the track and coming through the walking tunnel is actually closer to town than the town side of the tracks.
9:45 am on Sunday. Legal parking spaces EVERYWHERE. And I just watched a guy turn left into a space in front of BofA, and then have to make a couple more back and forth maneuvers to get in the space. With empty legal spaces about 100 feet away. Part of the parking issue is that everyone is George Costanza. They just HAVE to have that space right in front of where they're going.
In fairness, maybe he was planning a bank heist. You really do want your car right outside the front door for one of those.
Only Virgil Starkwell would attempt one of those on a Sunday. Did anyone find a discarded gub?
A little consideration of other people would go a long way.
People would be surprised at how many parking and traffic tickets are written by the Parking Enforcement Officers and the Police every week.
A citizen has the right to sign a formal citizen's complaint as to a Parking or Traffic violation, but that citizen would be required to make a couple of trips to Court. Perhaps some civic minded folks would like to form a Citizens Patrol.
Has someone confused Terra Cotta with the Winolear. When I had dinner at the latter when I first moved to Town a little more than 30 years ago I was the youngest person there. I would still be one of the youngest today.
apple44 said:
In fairness, maybe he was planning a bank heist. You really do want your car right outside the front door for one of those.
I guess someone that dumb might not know that the bank is closed on Sunday.
I find parking less difficult in SO than in MW. When running errands or meeting people, I can always find a spot. Also, I don’t live that far from the Village so unless the weather is intolerable or I have lots to carry, I choose to walk. Working from home allows me to schedule my errands and I’m sure this helps. However, same schedule, I circle and circle in MW and often run late, no matter how early I leave. Right before Christmas, I ended up canceling a lunch date because I simply could not find a spot...and I got there 1/2 hour plus before our meet. We decided to drive together and head into Millburn instead. IMO, MW is worse.
It is prohibited but no one pays attention and there is ZERO enforcement. All the Town needs to do is have a policeman start writing tickets each time a line forms and it will end quickly.
kthnry said:
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
Another problem in the evening is the people lined up in the driving lane of the train parking lot, cars idling, waiting to pick up a passenger getting off the train. Other cars cannot get by them to exit the parking lot. Cars cannot back out of the parking spaces because these cars are blocking the driving lane. This would be a hindrance to emergency services if the need arises.
That’s a mess, and completely unnecessary. I’d love to see that prohibited.
Most of the time we park at the train station and walk across - never a problem
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
Another problem in the evening is the people lined up in the driving lane of the train parking lot, cars idling, waiting to pick up a passenger getting off the train. Other cars cannot get by them to exit the parking lot. Cars cannot back out of the parking spaces because these cars are blocking the driving lane. This would be a hindrance to emergency services if the need arises.
As bad or worse are the entitled folks who park on the left side of Inwood Place in front of Village Trattoria, while they go inside to pick up their take-out orders. This leaves too little room for a fire truck (for example) to get through there.
We loved Terra Cotta and I can't imagine why anyone would categorize it as a "blue-hair" place.
Where was Terra Cotta? And what was the name of the French restaurant on Springfield (where we had our first Maplewood dinner out, about 23 years ago)?
First time I had "crazy salad" was at Celebrated Foods. I believe they started at the house where Cactus Charlie's is and later moved to the Tandoori Chef location. They also did a nice job catering.
rhw said:
First time I had "crazy salad" was at Celebrated Foods. I believe they started at the house where Cactus Charlie's is and later moved to the Tandoori Chef location. They also did a nice job catering.
It was reverse - they started at Tandoori and later moved to Cactus Charley's.
To Drew's point:
I always manage to find a spot somewhere, perhaps partly because I don't mind walking a block or two when necessary.
HOWEVER I have noticed and do agree with others that the illegal parking has just lately gotten worse on all levels, -crosswalks, left-hand turning into spots, blocking roads with blinkers on and the ever-dreaded, -just sitting there in the middle of Maplewood Ave waiting for someone else to maybe back out sometime today or in the near future. I have even lately observed a surprising number of folks driving obliviously the wrong way in the one-way Ricalton parking lot, WTF?
Someone else mentioned Uber. I took an Uber from my house near downtown SO to the Maplewood theater a few weeks ago during that bitter cold spell. It was the most pleasant experience! About $5 each way, nice warm car arrived in minutes on both ends, no parking woes. Really something to consider.
steel said:
I have even lately observed a surprising number of folks driving obliviously the wrong way in the one-way Ricalton parking lot, WTF?
I wonder if this is a sign that the village, specifically the Clarus, is drawing more out-of-towners.
steel said:
a surprising number of folks driving obliviously the wrong way in the one-way Ricalton parking lot, WTF?
Were some signs removed during construction and not replaced? The Ricalton lot was two ways for a short period over the summer and it seems as though some One Way or Do Not Enter signs were not restored. But it could be a faulty memory.
I'm as tired as anybody about the rest of the misbehavior, particularly the blocking of crosswalks ("just for a minute"). But I confess that I sometimes hover at the corner of Woodland and Maplewood Ave. awaiting a backer-outer, as long as there's nobody behind me.
I walk that stretch all the time. It's been going on for a while. A guy going the wrong way there lost it on me for pointing it out to him. That was over a year ago.
The "park like a tool" thread on MOL is almost five years old. This stuff has been happening long before the post office was closed.
DaveSchmidt said:
steel said:
I have even lately observed a surprising number of folks driving obliviously the wrong way in the one-way Ricalton parking lot, WTF?
I wonder if this is a sign that the village, specifically the Clarus, is drawing more out-of-towners.
j_r said:
steel said:
a surprising number of folks driving obliviously the wrong way in the one-way Ricalton parking lot, WTF?
Were some signs removed during construction and not replaced? The Ricalton lot was two ways for a short period over the summer and it seems as though some One Way or Do Not Enter signs were not restored. But it could be a faulty memory.
I'm as tired as anybody about the rest of the misbehavior, particularly the blocking of crosswalks ("just for a minute"). But I confess that I sometimes hover at the corner of Woodland and Maplewood Ave. awaiting a backer-outer, as long as there's nobody behind me.
The sign was restored last year as soon as it went back to one way.
And if no one is waiting behind you, I doubt anyone cares if you wait for a space. It's when there are 5 cars stuck waiting for a minute behind someone that it starts to get annoying
I was sitting in my truck eating a sandwich at the Ricoltan parking lot facing Maplewood Ave. I didn't know I was going to have dinner AND a show.
Some guy stops his car right around where Bill and Harry's is while 2, then 3 then 5 cars are lined up behind him while he waits and waits and waits for some other car to back out. People start beeping at him as there is plenty of traffic going the opposite way. The worst part is he vaguely indicates with hand waving that he seems to expect them all to back up so HE can back up so the car he's waiting for has room to back out. Words are exchanged out of windows.
Naturally a couple of the drivers just figure "F*ck it" and given half a chance drive angrily around. He finally gets his wish and can pull in. The best part is that as I look around me in the Ricalton lot there were EASILY ten or twelve empty spots. All he freakin' had to do was turn his head and look left and be willing to walk an extra few feet (a perfectly able guy in his 30's btw) People, -I don't get 'em.
these discussions have been going on for weeks on MOL and FB, and a lot of people make all kind of excuses for the illegal parking and driving. A lot of them think that people like me are being a pain in the *** for pointing it out. A lot of others think it's ignorance of the laws. Sure, we all make mistakes and do something improper behind the wheel from time to time. But most of the people doing these thing almost certainly know they're wrong and don't care. The cars I see going the wrong way into the Ricalton lot are picking up or dropping off someone at the train station. I doubt any of those people aren't fully aware they're driving the wrong way. The guy who lost it on me obviously knew he was wrong. Because all I did was stop in front of him and point at the one way sign. He knew he was going the wrong way. He just didn't care, and I was the one being an "*******" for pointing it out to him (without yelling or ranting, btw.)
Some people want to blame the construction, or the Clarus or the Cassidy or any of a number of excuses. But I've been posting about this behavior on MOL for years before the post office development started. I've emailed the TC about the parking in crosswalks. Some people think I'm being a dick over this issue. But when a member of my household gets bumped by a car backing up in the crosswalk, or when I personally came within a step of being flattened by a speeding car zooming around an illegally parked car, it woke me up. Bigly.
Here's what I wrote in the "park like a tool" thread in 2014:
I've written this a half a dozen times on MOL, but of all the "park like a tool" maneuvers people pull, the illegal parking in the village is actually dangerous. there's a reason there's no parking around crosswalks. it's so drivers can see the pedestrians crossing. I really wish the parking enforcement people would crack down on this. no one is entitled to park in those areas. not if it's only for a few minutes, and not if you're just waiting for your spouse. if you're handicapped there are legal handicapped spaces a few yards away. a lot of people with kids think it's ok. but about 90% of in town have had little kids in car seats and strollers at one time or another, and the vast majority of us haven't felt entitled to park anywhere we please.
to the parents who think it's ok -- what if someone else was parked there and your kid stepped out from behind a car next to the crosswalk and got hit by a car?
People's responses are so flippant. To them it's not a big deal at all. But for jeebus sake, do any of us want to contribute at all to a potential accident in a crosswalk? Any pedestrian shorter than the vehicle parked there can't see oncoming vehicles and they can't see the pedestrian. Sure it's the driver's job to make sure they are aware of people potentially entering the crosswalk. But even if someone's parked car only contributes 10% to a kid or elderly person being run down, do anyone of us want to be the person who has that on their conscience?
I know these threads and my rants don't change many (or maybe any) minds. But I hope a handful of people who do this might think about the stuff I'm writing here and on FB and possibly stop doing this. And for the rest of the people blocking crosswalks, I hope they get tickets.
As far as the crosswalk, I'd spend more time trying to get people to actually use it. People stream across the length of Maplewood Ave like herds of urban deer. That's the accident waiting to happen.
Yes there are definitely the FB apologists for entitled behavior (there are two in particular on FB Soma Lounge who love to claim that anyone who has an issue with driving or parking behavior need to get over it because there are bigger problems in the world) and then there are those who claim ignorance of the laws. Seriously though, just use common sense. Take the no left turn into parking spots issue. Even if it weren't against the law, how in the world does that seem like a good idea? There's no way a car can turn into one of those spots without having to back up numerous times to get into said spot correctly.
Since we can get do much about people being entitled and not using common sense, the only thing we can do is put pressure on getting the police to enforce this consistently. Once that happens, then we'll start seeing a lot less of this behavior.
ml1 said:
these discussions have been going on for weeks on MOL and FB, and a lot of people make all kind of excuses for the illegal parking and driving. A lot of them think that people like me are being a pain in the *** for pointing it out. A lot of others think it's ignorance of the laws. Sure, we all make mistakes and do something improper behind the wheel from time to time. But most of the people doing these thing almost certainly know they're wrong and don't care. The cars I see going the wrong way into the Ricalton lot are picking up or dropping off someone at the train station. I doubt any of those people aren't fully aware they're driving the wrong way. The guy who lost it on me obviously knew he was wrong. Because all I did was stop in front of him and point at the one way sign. He knew he was going the wrong way. He just didn't care, and I was the one being an "*******" for pointing it out to him (without yelling or ranting, btw.)
Some people want to blame the construction, or the Clarus or the Cassidy or any of a number of excuses. But I've been posting about this behavior on MOL for years before the post office development started. I've emailed the TC about the parking in crosswalks. Some people think I'm being a dick over this issue. But when a member of my household gets bumped by a car backing up in the crosswalk, or when I personally came within a step of being flattened by a speeding car zooming around an illegally parked car, it woke me up. Bigly.
Here's what I wrote in the "park like a tool" thread in 2014:
I've written this a half a dozen times on MOL, but of all the "park like a tool" maneuvers people pull, the illegal parking in the village is actually dangerous. there's a reason there's no parking around crosswalks. it's so drivers can see the pedestrians crossing. I really wish the parking enforcement people would crack down on this. no one is entitled to park in those areas. not if it's only for a few minutes, and not if you're just waiting for your spouse. if you're handicapped there are legal handicapped spaces a few yards away. a lot of people with kids think it's ok. but about 90% of in town have had little kids in car seats and strollers at one time or another, and the vast majority of us haven't felt entitled to park anywhere we please.
to the parents who think it's ok -- what if someone else was parked there and your kid stepped out from behind a car next to the crosswalk and got hit by a car?
People's responses are so flippant. To them it's not a big deal at all. But for jeebus sake, do any of us want to contribute at all to a potential accident in a crosswalk? Any pedestrian shorter than the vehicle parked there can't see oncoming vehicles and they can't see the pedestrian. Sure it's the driver's job to make sure they are aware of people potentially entering the crosswalk. But even if someone's parked car only contributes 10% to a kid or elderly person being run down, do anyone of us want to be the person who has that on their conscience?
I know these threads and my rants don't change many (or maybe any) minds. But I hope a handful of people who do this might think about the stuff I'm writing here and on FB and possibly stop doing this. And for the rest of the people blocking crosswalks, I hope they get tickets.
Sponsored Business
Promote your business here - Businesses get highlighted throughout the site and you can add a deal.
For Sale
-
REVO luggage $100
More info
They have a parking unit. Traffic unit would also be able to deal with moving violations.