Yes, with that receipt though b/c that will prevent abuse. It would make more sense to stamp the receipt rather than take it b/c anyone needing to exchange an item will need a receipt to do it.

The ferry works just fine and plenty of people drive and pay to park to take the ferry just up River Road from us. They could just as easily do it here if parking were free. They also could take the bus. More than a few towns regulate parking specifically to prevent people from driving to their communities & parking for free on city streets near mass transit lines.

Hey oldguard,

Definitely was pushed hard to make all parking free on Washington St. in December by Castellano and Russo. Others don't feel it aids businesses just turn Hoboken's main street into a parking lot.

Sniping got a bit rough.

More on this issue and the meeting at:
http://www.hobokenhorse.com/2012/12/council-differs-on-free-parking-plans.html

You're wrong.

Liebler, I know you are fully in cahoots w/ the likes of Mason & the Russos but it is not the government's place to subsidize things. You want advertising then find funding for it. You want the city to run ads promoting Hoboken then how about you lead the charge on coming up with a tax on businesses like yours to pay for that advertising budget.

Amen! It has lost all its charm and character; now just another neighborhood of nyc. Although the "new" hoboken has made me rich, I would rather be poorer and have the old town back. i guess you can't fight "progress".

I think anyone that needs free parking to justify coming to Hoboken to do their shopping is likely to not spend enough money to help the local economy much at all especially when you consider how many malls w/ free parking litter our region.

She is nuts. Every bartender, waitress, hair stylist and cashier in town would love to park all day on Washington right in place of their place of employment and that would completely deny the use of those spots for customers. We would see a month of nothing but abuse of the free parking and she darn well knows it.

Perhaps if one or two business owner had come to the City Council meeting and presented that point of view, Ms. Castellano and her cohorts would have understood that this silly grandstanding is not fooling anyone and comes with a political cost. But no one did so Hoboken was treated to another hour of useless bloviating about a proposal that would have helped no one when there are so many people and businesses actually in need of help.

The Hoboken business community has only itself to blame for the MORT monster it helped create, and it has only itself to blame if it is unwilling to speak up and be heard when issues that affect its interests are discussed.

I tried to make the meeting but couldn't and had sent an email out to 55 other business owners in town about the meeting, I see nobody went. I had emailed councilman Mello my concerns though, I hope they were addressed. The street parking is already abused up on Washington Street. I think one of the biggest problems is the metered spots are not included in the 4 hour rule. Only non metered spots are covered. With this being the case, on my block alone there are 8 cars parked on the event side of Washington that belong to employees of business on my block. I understand if someone is handicapped or impaired however making it free will only allow everyone to abuse the spots. It is true, it's political grandstanding. Some council members want us to not make money, then those who don't know the political scene will blame the mayor and the council of no will feel good about it. Now that they've attempted to sandbag me, I will sandbag back and if you know me I'm not afraid to speak my mind.

My point was directed more toward the 55 people you e-mailed than to you. The silence is deafening. Where were the voices of the business community when MORT blocked the repaving of Washington Street? Many in the business community seem to feel it is more important to give political cover to MORT than to speak up for their own interests, apparently believing MORT would "take care" of them after they get rid of Zimmer. Well, anyone who still thinks MORT will be getting rid of Zimmer is an imbecile and if the business community won't advocate loudly and publicly for its own interests and directly call out MORT for its antics then they will have no one to blame but themselves when MORT screws them while claiming to be helping them.

@demo

I don't think that its that the business owners don't want to go, I think it's more of 2 factors. 1 being some people feel if they speak up then there could be some sort of retaliation. We all know in this town if you pick a side or preach one side there will be blogs and people that just make stuff up, so some people fear that. Then there are the people who have sadly given up hope in town and just go about doing for them and not participating in events or situations like this where voicing an opinion can be heard. I see it every year, less and less businesses want to be involved. With lots of failed campaigns in the past people just aren't gun ho about things anymore. While a few of us do our best to change that, the show of hands from the businesses hasn't been what it should be.