Politics & Government
Commercial Parking Ban Expanded to All Town Roads
Harrison's ban on commercial vehicle parking has been expanded to include commercial business districts, meaning there will be no on-street parking for such vehicles in town.
Harrison's ban on commercial vehicles has expanded to cover the entire town.
The town's new parking law bans commercial vehicles from parking on residential streets. Until this week, commercial vehicles had been permitted to park in the town's business districts. Harrison Police Chief Anthony Marraccini asked the Harrison Town Board to expand the law at Thursday's meeting, saying his department has been enforcing the law on all of the town's streets anyway.
"I believe that it was always the intent or spirit of the law to include all of the streets in Harrison," said Marraccini, who added his concern is that vehicles banned from parking on residential streets will simply be moved into business districts. The previous law also didn't specify whether commercial vehicles could park on mixed-use streets like Purdy Street downtown and Lake Street in West Harrison.
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"It needed to apply to all streets in town so we could avoid, then, basically, everybody and all the commercial vehicles that were parked on the hill in Silver Lake coming down to Lake Street," Marraccini said.
Harrison Councilman Stephen Malfitano (R) said he was concerned because the board doesn't know how many streets will now be affected by the ban.
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The original law, went into effect March 1, but eventually led to a change allowing to park in residential driveways. That change was forced mostly because a handful of people were left with no place to park the vehicles they take to work.
Malfitano hinted he is concerned about passing a law that adversely affects more people.
"I'm concerned of walking into another situation by making a change that will displace more people without our knowing about it," he said.
Marraccini said that since his department has already been enforcing the law on all town roads, there won't be any new problems created by the change. The Harrison Town Board approved the adjustment with a 5-0 vote.
"I just don't know what the ramifications are going to be," Malfitano said. "We'll see how it goes."
Marraccini was instrumental in moving the commercial parking ban forward earlier this year. The goal of the law is to remove large vehicles that create eyesores by parking on Harrison streets.
Since his department began enforcing the law, the police chief said the change has been noticeable.
"It seems to have made some of the neighborhoods a little more pleasant," he said.
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