Belleville Residents Butt Heads Over 'Saving Parking Spaces' When It Snows

Belleville, NJ – Belleville police haven’t given out any tickets for “saving” public parking spaces… yet.

After the most recent blizzard, the Belleville Police Department issued a warning to residents that “it is unlawful to reserve a public parking space on a township road by placing objects, such as garbage cans, furniture, boxes, lumber, traffic cones, or any other item in the parking space.”

Violators may be subject to a maximum fine of $2,000, police advised via a Jan. 28 Nixle alert.

• See related article: Belleville Cops: Stop Saving Parking Spaces Or Face Fines

NO SUMMONSES YET

On Tuesday, Belleville Police Sergeant Frank Pignataro told Patch that so far, no summonses have been given to parking space-saving motorists in the township since the latest blizzard, which dumped about two feet of snow on the local roadways.

Pignataro said that the department gets its fair share of complaints about the issue, including reports of neighbors getting into disputes over parking spots.

“We try to rectify them the best we can, and advise people saving spots that they’re not allowed to do that,” he told Patch. “Officers find stuff in the streets… It’s kind of hard to figure out who it belongs to so they’ll just move it to the side.”

SOCIAL MEDIA DEBATE

The BPD’s announcement set off a furious debate on social media between people who support the “no saving spaces” concept, and those who say it’s unfair to those who labor over shoveling out a spot.

• See the original Patch Facebook post here.

“The mounds of snow are ridiculous, on my street the residents were the ones to plow because the town came once,” one commenter wrote. “Some people spent hours trying to get their cars out. I would think the police department has better things to do than go looking for saved parking spaces. Please take note I don’t have the need to shovel or put objects to save spaces.”

“Come on… This is an age old tradition!” argued another resident.

“I say if you dug up your park from a spot and cleaned, someone shouldn’t come and park in the spot you cleaned… And you have to go clean a spot to park every night… That’s not fair,” stated another motorist.

READER POLL

Should Belleville residents be allowed to “save” a parking space that they shoveled out? Take the Patch reader poll below and share the reason why you voted that way in the comments section.

Photo submitted via Facebook

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