5/22/2008:

When it comes to parking, people get blocked in different ways. Usually it’s a double-parker that prevents you from leaving.

As mentioned already in the rant section today, here’s what happens when a person is so desperate to park that they squeeze so tightly in, that they make it impossible for you to leave. Parking douchebag!

In an unrelated note. Did you know that the iPhone saves photos as “photo.jpg?” It doesn’t add sequential numbers to the filename. That makes it a pain to save attachments, because they’re all the same filename. I have to create a new directory for each photo I receive.

5/5/2008:

Here’s some proof that the Hoboken Police Department doesn’t give preferential treatment to celebrities (not all of them at least).

Hoboken411 reader “Gooch” took these pictures yesterday after the Arts & Music Festival. Steve Van Zandt (who played Silvio on The Sopranos) gets issued a summons from a HPD officer!

Will he pay his ticket, or show up in court to fight it?

PHOTO GALLERY (HOLD MOUSE OVER IMAGE TO NAVIGATE - 3 PHOTOS IN THIS SET)

2/26/2008:

Decided to lump to categories in one for this entry. A reader sent in a picture showing a frequent incident in Hoboken, where the parking is so tight that it’s next to impossible to exit the spot, and another picture I took yesterday of the Fire Chief’s SUV (and another car) happily parked on the sidewalk near City Hall.

“Eating” is official business, you know?

2/11/2008:

Here’s a quick blurb from a 411 reader, pretty much telling me what we all see pretty much every day in Hoboken:

“I took this with my cell phone- so the quality is poor. The driver came out of the building about 10 seconds after I took it. He had some sort of state plates- fire or police. Not only was he ON the sidewalk by a significant amount, he was in a driveway, and there was a full size spot right there!”

9/22/2007 Update:

Tremitiedi “clouds” the air

In today’s local paper, Richard Tremitiedi tries to “clear the air of uncertainty” regarding last weeks “caught on film” incident where he was WITNESSED to have taken a ticket out of his car, and place it himself under his windshield wiper.

He writes:

Website wrong on fire chief

Dear Editor:

I have to clear the air of uncertainty regarding my double-parked car in front of 512 Washington Street. To run into a local business, I did double park. A photo appeared afterward on the Hoboken 411 website. The photo is factual; however the allegation that I placed a “dummy” ticket on my vehicle and thus avoided a summons is completely false and without foundation.

In reality, the Hoboken Police Department did their job, and issued summons number 398073 at 1415 hrs (1:15pm) [411 note: they don’t know military time] on September 17, 2007. Rightfully, I will pay the $54 penalty.

Along with the nice picture of my auto, 411 decided to cast doubt on honest statements made by me during my attempt to become the 2nd Ward councilperson. After honorably serving the City of Hoboken for 35 years, the person responsible for this website should have had the common sense to check with me before allowing the erroneous attempt to defame my integrity and reputation.

This will not deter me from speaking out at our City council meetings, and to “watchdog” the sale of the Observer Highway garage.

Respectfully,
Richard Tremitiedi

Here is exactly what I witnessed, FOR THE RECORD: He pulls up adjacent to an EMPTY parking spot at approx 2:19pm. He gets out of the car, with ticket in hand, places it himself on the windshield. THERE WAS NOTHING ON HIS WINDSHIELD AS HE PULLED UP.

These are some more likely scenarios:

1. He actually received a ticket for a parking offense shortly before, and thought that he was entitled to an “All-day illegal parking pass”. Still wrong, and still used an “old” ticket.
2. A ticket was issued days after the fact in an attempt to show that he was actually summonsed. If that’s the case, then it wouldn’t have happened unless it was posted on Hoboken411.

I’m not old, and my vision is clear. I know what I witnessed, and his “letter to the editor” is just “damage control” for him, and his own attempt to discredit Hoboken411. I stand by my words, and I hope he has a clear conscience himself.

Why else would I take a picture of a car with a ticket already on it? That, my friends is just boring. His actions are what inspired me to take the picture to begin with. Enough said.

9/18/2007:
Yesterday, right smack dab in the heart of Washington Street, former Fire Chief (and possible at-large council candidate in 2009) Richard Tremitiedi was seen pulling up and double parking next to a vacant parking spot.

He proceeded to get out of his car, put an old parking ticket under the windshield wiper, as to “trick” any passing police or parking authority workers that he already received a summons.

C’mon, Richard! For starters, don’t you think people can easily see you pulling this stunt? Furthermore, were you that much in a hurry that you just couldn’t park in that spot instead of not only blocking the road, but preventing anyone else to park there? Lastly, do you think that this is proper behavior for a possible future City Councilperson? Here’s a quote from a letter you sent out back in April, when you were trying to win voters over:

“Having decades of public service, I would like to use the experience, knowledge and wisdom that I have gained to continue my pattern of life, which is to now serve the community in the capacity of an elected official.”

However, I do suppose if you do run for at-large, you can win a lot of votes by teaching city residents your “tricks of the trade.”

For those that may have missed it, here’s Richards all-star performance in the quick “bobble head” music video I whipped together around election time:

PS, making videos after a few cocktails can be fun.

9/13/2007:

We all know this debate comes up in Hoboken from time to time, how we think people purposely take up multiple spots to protect their precious rides. Often times, however, it’s not the driver’s fault, as many cars may come and go throughout the day, and it just looks like they were being obnoxious.

But in this case, a Hoboken411 reader witnessed someone caught in the act, and shares her sentiments:

“Hey 411..

There are a lot of spots around town were you can fit 2 cars and people park right in the middle taking up both spots as well.”

It’s not like we have bountiful parking choices.

How do you feel about this?

Meant to post this a while ago, but here you go!

411 reader Jordan noticed this miniature car sitting unmoved and unticketed for weeks, but thinks he may have found a loophole that can save people from getting ticketed!

“The following red car has been parked in the exact same location for the past 4-5 weeks. The car is on Thirteenth Street (cross street is Adams Street). It is located across the street from the 1301 and 1201 Upper Grand buildings. Although it is located on a “Thursday street” for street cleaning, it has never been moved nor ticketed. There is a note in the window that says “Battery Died. Please Don’t Ticket.” I have seen other cars in the area ticketed for not moving their cars for street cleaning, yet this car is immune to police ticketing. I do not understand this. Can anyone explain this? Perhaps, this person has paid off the Hoboken parking/ticketing people.

Maybe I have discovered a loop-hole in alternate side of the street parking in Hoboken. Maybe all you need to do to avoid a ticket for alternate side of the street parking is to put a note on your car saying your battery is dead. I don’t know. The car also has a flat tire. See pictures below:”

Man, the illegal parking doesn’t stop in Hoboken!

Take a look at this shopping cart with the “make the kid feel like he’s in control so he doesn’t knock over an entire display of fava beans in Shoprite” attachment. It was illegally parked in front of a hydrant by Maxwell’s yesterday morning.

I wonder if they ticketed and towed it.

I was thinking of changing the title of these postings to “P.O.O.F.”, what do you think?

Anyway, here’s another small gallery of offending vehicles over the past couple days, as submitted by the readers:

As you can see on the left sidebar of Hoboken411.com, I’ve re-organized the parking section a little bit. I’ve moved Street Cleaning as a sub-section, as well as added two new sub-categories: “City Offender Zone” (dedicated to City vehicles only), and “Offenders on Film” (all other offenders you feel worthy of submission).

Let’s start today’s gallery out with a few pictures from an anonymous reader (in the 9th St. Area), as well as a few I took myself yesterday (near 14th and Bloomfield). One van had the dubious honor of blocking not one, but TWO crosswalks simultaneously. Bravo!

All submitted pictures will get periodically compiled into a “gallery of shame” for permanent viewing here on 411. Before you complain, yeah, there are much worse things to worry about, but why the heck not try to cover it all?

Here’s a couple, see the rest after the break.

[Click to continue reading the rest….]