With hundreds, if not thousands, of local residents converging on town parking lots in the early morning hours of Jan. 21 to board buses to the Women’s March on Washington, D.C., Maplewood and South Orange leaders are taking action to ease the pain — and circumvent any potential chaos.
First and foremost, both towns have waived overnight on-street parking restrictions for the early morning hours of Jan. 20. (Normally, on-street parking is not allowed in either town between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.) However, leaders stress that regular parking regulations such as not parking in front of driveways and fire hydrants, in handicapped parking and keeping distances from corners etc. will be enforced.
Notably, South Orange Village President Sheena Collum’s guidelines are a bit more extensive than Maplewood Mayor Victor DeLuca’s, as the South Orange buses will be departing from the Village Center whereas Maplewood’s departures are not taking place in shopping districts.
Collum first asks that those attending the march endeavor to be dropped off or carpool. She then lists six parking lots that will waive restrictions for the day (NOTE: They are NOT parking lots that are close to shopping). Collum notes that “waivers will be in effect from 12 a.m. Saturday, January 21, 2017 through noon on Sunday, January 22, 2017.”
See DeLuca and Collum’s complete directives below:
From Maplewood Mayor Victor DeLuca:
As per the request of the Maplewood Township Committee, the Maplewood Police Department will waive enforcement of the overnight on-street no parking rules early Saturday morning. This will allow bus riders to D.C. to legally park on the street prior boarding the buses. All other parking rules must be observed (no parking at fire hydrants or blocking driveways; no parking with 50 feet of a stop sign; etc.)
In the event your bus is delayed in returning to Maplewood and you expect to arrive in town after 2 am on Sunday, please call the Police Department at 973-762-1234 and let them know your cars are on the street. [Overnight parking restrictions have now been waived in Maplewood for both 1/21 and 1/22.]
Hope I see a lot of you in D.C.
From South Orange Village President Sheena Collum:
To all our incredible and amazing residents who will be heading to the Women’s March on Washington, I wish I could join you, but I’m there in spirit!
Here are the details of what South Orange Village will be doing to accommodate the 19 buses and 1,000+ residents who have their sneakers & posters & voices ready to go! Please Pass Along – and good luck to you all. A big special thanks to all the volunteers and organizers for your work. I am so proud to be the Village President of this amazing community!
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The Village has been made aware of a number of charter buses scheduled to transport residents and their friends from South Orange to Washington, DC for an event this Saturday, January 21, 2017 departing from South Orange at 5 a.m. Saturday morning and returning at or after midnight Saturday or early Sunday morning. In order to assist in facilitating the large number of anticipated riders while minimizing the impact on traffic, Village businesses, and public safety, the Village is making the following arrangements.
Attendees Encouraged to be Dropped Off or Carpool:
Due to the anticipated large number of attendees, the limited number of parking spaces in our downtown and our desire to keep parking available for all of our local small businesses, the Village strongly encourages attendees to make arrangements to be dropped off and picked up from the bus departure locations or, if that is not possible, to carpool and thereby minimize the number of cars needing to park downtown.
All On Street Overnight Parking Restrictions will be Waived on Friday and Saturday Nights:
The South Orange Police Department and South Orange Parking Authority will waive enforcement of the overnight on-street no parking rules early Saturday morning and Sunday morning. This will allow bus riders to D.C. to legally park on the street and in the below designated lots prior to boarding the buses.
Designated Parking Lots with Regulations and Enforcement Waived:
To accommodate attendees who are unable to arrange drop off/pick up, the Village is designating certain parking lots for attendees to utilize.
- 3rd Street Garage
- New Waterlands Parking Lot (Entrance off 3rd St. immediately east of Rahway River)
- Church St. and S.O. Ave. Gravel Lot (Southeast corner, entrance off of Church Street)
- N.J. Transit (West) Lot (Entrance off Church St., only portion of lot west of Rahway River)
- South Orange Middle School Parking Lot (Entrances off of N. Ridgewood and S.O. Avenue)
- Mead Street and Meadowbrook Lane (only between Mead St. and Meadowbrook Pl.)
All permit, payment, time limit and overnight prohibitions will be waived in the designated lots. All other parking regulations (i.e. parking in front of fire hydrant, blocking driveways, handicap parking, etc.) will remain in effect and subject to enforcement in all areas of the Village.
In all other public parking lots not listed above, all requirements, including hourly limits, payment requirements, will remain in effect and subject to enforcement.
The Village would like to thank attendees in advance for adhering to the above guidelines and for their consideration of our local businesses by being dropped off or carpooling where possible. Attendees are directed to the event organizers for information as to their assigned buses and bus pick up locations.
