Haddonfield Today 143_2024Feb16_Parking
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34 | haddonfield.today<br />
Peeved About <strong>Parking</strong>?<br />
#<strong>143</strong> • FEBRUARY 16 TO MARCH 8, 2024<br />
The most common complaint, next to having to pay<br />
to park on Saturdays? The loss of 12 minutes for free.<br />
by David Hunter, publisher of <strong>Haddonfield</strong> <strong>Today</strong><br />
› A family on my block is planning an addition to their house. A key step in the process –<br />
obtaining a variance from the Zoning Board – requires them to send Certified Mail letters to<br />
the owners of properties located within 200 feet of their home – a total of 32 addresses.<br />
We were not at home when the letter carrier brought that particular envelope to our<br />
house. Since a signature certifying receipt is required, she left a notice instead. She told me<br />
subsequently that she left notices at more than 20 of the addresses on the list.<br />
The notice lists six options for picking up the letter or arranging for a second attempt at<br />
delivery. I chose the one that appeared to be the easiest: Going the <strong>Haddonfield</strong> Post Office.<br />
Well, except …<br />
For more than 70 years, ever since they were introduced on September 1, 1950,<br />
parking meters in front of the Post Office provided 12 minutes for free. The time limit,<br />
available at the flick of a wrist, was designed to encourage drivers visiting the Post Office<br />
to park, do their business, and leave, thus making spaces available for others. It was<br />
implemented by the commissioners upon the urging of the then postmaster, Cal Semler,<br />
who pointed out that the proposed 90-minute parking limit “would not fit the post office<br />
requirements.” The Borough painted the five 12-minute meters on S. Haddon Ave a different<br />
color from the others in town.<br />
Fast-forward to September 1, 2023. With scant notice to the community, the<br />
commissioners introduced a new parking scheme that eliminated free parking on Saturdays<br />
and extended the hours of paid parking from 6pm to 8pm. The new scheme also did away<br />
with all but a few meters, and nixed the 12-minute-free period, townwide.<br />
Now, folks who work in the vicinity can park in front of the Post Office all day if they wish<br />
– well, until 4pm – inhibiting the ability of those who need to go to the Post Office from<br />
doing so conveniently and economically. It costs $1.35 to park and run a quick errand: collect<br />
mail from a box, drop an Amazon return ... or sign for a Certified Mail letter.<br />
“It’s not worth the hassle.” Post Office clerks report that some customers who used to<br />
visit daily to collect their mail from boxes have made other arrangements and that a number<br />
of eBay sellers and Amazon package-returners now drive to the Post Office in Collingswood.<br />
Folks who used to obey the law by turning the lever for the free minutes now flaunt it. They<br />
park, run in, and hope they won’t get a ticket. (I know this from observation, chatting with<br />
scofflaws, and anecdotes told by Post Office clerks.)<br />
Not everyone gets away with it. I recently watched a woman park alongside the yellow<br />
curb and next to the fire hydrant.<br />
She ran in with a package,<br />
dropped it off, ran out, jumped<br />
into her car, and then sat –<br />
fuming – while a police officer<br />
who had pulled up behind her<br />
issued a ticket. If there were still<br />
a limit on parking time in front<br />
of the Post Office, perhaps one<br />
or more spaces would have been<br />
available and she would have<br />
been able to park legally.<br />
There is limited-time parking elsewhere in town, at the Mabel Kay Senior Center,<br />
the Central/Middle School, the PATCO Station, and the sub shop on N. Haddon Ave.<br />
How can the commissioners justify permitting limited-time parking at those locations<br />
when, on any particular day, it’s likely that more drivers park – or want to park – at the Post<br />
Office than at all of the other locations combined? If the commissioners don’t believe it’s<br />
appropriate to provide convenient parking at the Post Office, they should eliminate the other<br />
zones and remove the signs. (And brace for super-hots the next time they order a hoagie.)
#<strong>143</strong> • FEBRUARY 16 TO MARCH 8, 2024<br />
Peeved About <strong>Parking</strong>?<br />
haddonfield.today | 35<br />
There are 15-minute zones in other parts of town.<br />
Why not in front of the Post Office?<br />
n The 15-minute zone in front of the<br />
Mabel Kay Senior Center on Walnut<br />
Street makes it convenient for drivers<br />
to drop off or pick up folks who are<br />
visiting the center.<br />
However: Although there’s a sign that<br />
indicates where the 15-minute zone ends,<br />
there’s no sign that shows where it begins.<br />
n On Chestnut Street, opposite<br />
the Central/Middle School, the<br />
15-minute zone makes it convenient<br />
for parents to drop off lunches for<br />
kids who inadvertently left them at<br />
home (for example).<br />
However: Signs on poles (that<br />
used to have meters on them) tell<br />
drivers they can park for an hour<br />
in a 15-minute zone. Huh?<br />
n The 15-minute zone in front<br />
of the PATCO Station is for the<br />
convenience of drivers who drop<br />
off or pick up Speedline passengers.<br />
However: That zone is under<br />
the auspices of the Port Authority,<br />
not the Borough. PATCO gets it. Why<br />
don’t the commissioners?<br />
n In front of The Bread Board Plus<br />
(N. Haddon Ave at Wayne), there’s a<br />
15-minute zone apparently for the<br />
convenience of those picking up breakfast,<br />
lunch, or dinner, and of parents dropping<br />
off their little darlings at Tumbling on<br />
Haddon, next door.<br />
However: If you can’t stop or stand,<br />
how can you park?