Today I witnessed something I thought deserved attention. A fire truck, racing to what could have been a massive fire, could not turn onto First Street because a car was illegally parked at the corner. To make the turn, the fire truck had to straighten out, backup, and make the turn slowly to avoid hitting the car. I was so angry, I took a picture of the car.
As you can see, the car is parked illegally. The spot is clearly marked with yellow paint denoting the space as one that is not for cars. I even think there were signs up saying ‘No Parking’ right next to where the car was placed. They obviously knew they weren’t supposed to park there because they had their hazard lights on blinking as if to say, “Its OK that I’m parking here, I’ll only be a few minutes.” You’ll notice that they are from out of state – Massachusetts (so you know they are a bad driver, too) – but had a parking permit on their dashboard; I’m sure that blocking emergency vehicles from responding to an alarm was not allowed when they paid the $5.
It says something, though, about our town where the parking is SO BAD that, to find a spot, you have to block intersections and prevent firefighters from saving lives. It also says something about our enforcement (or lack thereof) when people know they can get away with park illegally.I don’t know if there was a big fire that minute. But if there were, I know that the truck got their late because this arrogant jerk blocked the turning radius. Someone could have died because of a poor response time or the fire could have spread to adjacent buildings all because the rescue personnel couldn’t get there on time.It’s about time the city of Hoboken crack down on these illegal parkers. Fine them, ticket them, tow them. Do whatever it takes to get these cars off our streets so that people can live safer. And forget about the damage that could have been cause if the two vehicles hit! The guy is lucky his Pathfinder is in one piece. Other cars, haven’t been so lucky.
