JACKSON – Street maintenance and educating the public on new parking protocols are part of the roadmap of change in the township.
Mayor Michael Reina announced that road improvement projects were on the horizon and were “vital to our residents and to the safety of all. These roads have been identified through our roadway grading system which helps us identify our municipal roadways that need repair.”
Jackson council members have been working with Ocean County officials on upgrading “some of the County roads in the near future,” he added.
Roadways identified for paving and upgrading under this project include Highland Drive, Declaration Lane, Spruce Terrace, Sapphire Drive, East Pleasant Grove Road, Daniel Court, Albert Court, West Fish Road, Sunnybrook Road, Ollie Burke Road, Crescent Avenue, Paul Road, Tilford Street, DeRose Lane and striping for Brewers Bridge Road.
“It is important not only to continue adding services for our community, but to continue maintaining and upgrading our existing services and infrastructure,” Council President Jennifer Kuhn said.
Educating The Public
The subject of enforcement and education came up during a recent Township Council meeting following comments by an Alaska Avenue resident who asked if the council had visited Brookwood I. He stated the police “ignore” violations and “now we have people putting up orange cones where people used to park. They (police) ride through the neighborhood and never is there a citation issued. It is just ignored.”
“The same way code enforcement ignores when people put brush out,” he added. “There are trailers parked on Brookwood Parkway – not one but two – and it is ignored. There was a trailer parked at Prospect Park apartments for two nights with no lights on in a dark area.”
The resident said, “don’t pass new laws if we aren’t going to enforce the laws already on the books. This is ridiculous. It’s dangerous and we have people riding e-scooters and e-bikes without helmets, without lights. We have children riding bicycles on the streets without helmets. Nobody enforces anything.”
Kuhn said she agreed with him. “I drove around those neighborhoods with the traffic safety bureau and our engineers for probably about two and half hours and visited probably five neighborhoods. I think the first step is education.”
The resident noted that “when you get your driver’s license you are taught to drive on the right side of the street so when you park on the side of the street you have had to drive on the wrong side of the street to get there. You don’t need to be educated. You were educated when you got your driver’s license.”
Kuhn, speaking in reference to newly approved township parking restrictions in areas where certain neighborhoods are in close proximity to county highways, responded, “we are trying to enforce this and move forward with this in phases.”
“Start issuing tickets. The word will spread quickly and it will stop. We don’t need to spend more money to educate,” the resident added.
Business Administrator Terence Wall however called the matter an “education imperative. The goal is safety – the goal is not inconvenience.”
Police Chief Matthew Kunz spoke next, adding, “in the last few months we convened several meetings that were traffic and traffic safety oriented with a focus in the east side section of town such as the Brookwoods, where there are parking concerns.”
“This marries into the new ordinances where there is a restriction on parking on a municipal roadway where there is a county roadway,” the chief added. He also noted that attention was put toward traffic in and around bus stops, parking the wrong way and parking by a fire hydrant.
“Traffic safety has three key components: engineering, education and enforcement. We want to engage in a campaign of education before we go on to a campaign of enforcement. You are correct sir. You take the driver’s test and you are presumed to know the current traffic laws and you are expected to be compliant with them. However, the reality is that over a period of time people may not be so compliant with those traffic laws,” Chief Kunz said.
“Perhaps they need a fair reminder and out of a sense of equity to all the residents we didn’t think it would be appropriate to put out a new ordinance and just instantly issue summonses where people may not be educated on the changes,” he said.
“We are tying in the new ordinance and after about a month of (social media, website flyer distribution and e-mail notifications on the ordinance) we will start issuing warnings and then it will be completely fair to then engage in a campaign of renewed enforcement,” Kunz said.
