The Tryko Partners building, Route 70, Brick, NJ. (Credit: Google Maps)
Brick Township officials went through with a daytime parking ban on Duquesne Boulevard and neighboring streets at a township council meeting Tuesday night, prompting cheers from residents who said, for the second time this month, that their neighborhood had been plagued by nonstop traffic from a nearby real estate business that had vastly outgrown its parking lot.
The real estate company, Tryko Partners, conducts auctions as part of its business purchasing tax debt, and it is routine for visitors to their office at 575 Route 70 to park up and down Duquesne Boulevard, a residential street, officials have said. Residents, earlier this month, complained that the vehicles block their mailboxes and trash cans, with many going days without mail delivery and weeks without trash pickup, and sometimes find their driveways to be blocked. The group of residents, led by 30 year resident of the street Jim Stoever, said neighbors have asked patrons of the business to leave room for mail and trash service to no avail.
The council, on Tuesday night, unanimously approved the ordinance banning parking on Duquesne from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The restrictions will be in effect for the entire length of Duquesne. On North Lake Shore Drive, the restrictions will be in place between Duquesne and Bethany Lane, and on Lafayette Drive, the restrictions will be in place between Duquesne and Bates Way.
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Earlier this month, when the ordinance was introduced, a man who said he was an attorney for Tryko blamed anti-Jewish discrimination for the proposed ban. Tryko counts members of Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish community among its owners and executives.Isaac Sassoon, the attorney representing Tryko, harshly criticized the proposed parking restrictions, saying they would “handcuff the growth of our business” and claimed there were “racial overtones” to the restriction, saying he saw a discussion on Facebook about the parking issue where “derogatory comments about Jews” were posted.
Sassoon, who did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, said the company was being singled out, however Duquesne residents said Brick officials have enacted parking restrictions in other neighborhoods plagued with parking issues, including in Birchwood Park near Brick Township High School, and off Mantoloking Road near the location of a taxi company.
“This is nonsense,” Stoever said of the discrimination claim. “The wording does not single out any religious, cultural or ethnic group.
“If the business was primarily owned by Mormons, Roman Catholics or Jehova’s Witnesses,” the reaction from neighbors would be the same, he said, adding that the homeowners themselves would experience an inconvenience because they would not be able to park in front of their homes, either.
“They can’t have their guests park on the side of the street either, so they’re making sacrifices for the greater good,” said Councilwoman Marianna Pontoriero, who said she has visited the street and witnessed the danger of overparking there. “Something had to be done.”
Township Attorney Kevin Starkey said state law requires 20 days before new ordinances go into effect after they are published in a newspaper. Publication should occur within two to three days, he said, so the ban would actually be enacted in 22 to 23 days.
Officials said signs will be placed on the street and Brick police officers will patrol it and issue tickets to vehicles that are illegally parked.
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