Hern Issues Statement About Downtown Parking Issues

Mayor J. Brooke Hern issued a statement regarding parking issues early Wednesday afternoon.

His statement is as follows:

"For the past three years this Council hasn’t lifted a finger to resolve downtown parking problems.  I don’t really care who leads negotiations for the Council, just as long as someone does it.  I’m setting up meetings because nobody else has done anything about it.  The Council President may be offended, but that’s not really my concern.  The vacant stores in the Village Shopping Center will soon be filled, and something needs to be done about shared parking before things get even worse.  As Mayor, I have a responsibility to act, and I’m going to do everything in my power to improve parking.  The Council President should stop whining about who’s going to lead discussions and just do his job.  Now he’s disrupting my progress with meaningless resolutions and bureaucratic nonsense.  I expect results, and so do the people of New Providence.  For all his blustering, I have three words for the Council President:  Get it done." 

New Providence Borough Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. to vote on a resolution to establish councilmen Bob Robinson and Gary Kapner as the council representatives for “downtown shopping district issues" and ask Hern to stop "undermining" the council's efforts to reach a fair parking solution by directing his own negotiations with downtown stakeholders.

A resolution unanimously approved at a recent meeting allows both councilmen to hold discussions about parking issues in the borough, which is a huge issue among residents and business owners, especially after Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc, the new owner of the Village Shopping Center, recently put up large signs threatening non-customers who park there will be towed.

But according to the draft resolution for the Wednesday night meeting, council members have heard from community business leaders that Hern has tried to schedule a meeting with representatives from downtown businesses to discuss the parking situation without notifying any council members and while being aware that Kapner and Robinson were given that responsibility.

Read more about the resolution for the Wednesday night council meeting here.