April - May 2002 Edition

Parking Regulations Proposed   By Chris Neidenberg   The Borough Council, following an emotional meeting lasting over two hours at Forrest School on March 12, has introduced a measure banning parking on Orchard Street near Fair Lawn High School during some school hours.    After polling about 10 upset residents on March 5, the council unanimously introduced the measure a week later. About 40 residents and students attended the Forrest session. If adopted, the mandate seeks to keep students from heading across the street and littering. Council members have proposed making changes that could kick in over about the last three months of the school year. They also proposed a sunset letting the measure die nine months after passage, when they would review its effectiveness.    Parking would be banned on Orchard, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., between Berdan Avenue and Rose Place. The west side now has a two-hour limit covering this period, and parking is banned on the east side. Neighbors affected said it might stop certain students now parking during lunch from dumping cigarettes and food waste. Orchard resident Steve Rickett has already offered a petition from 29 citizens.    While conceding the problems have abated since police began monitoring, Rickett stressed during both meetings that more must be done. Displaying a big plastic bag of waste, taken from just one property at the March 5 session, he said a resident counted 3,882 butts dumped there from Oct. 8 to Dec. 25. Rickett also vowed to "eat" every butt in the area, if a count (as of March 5) did not exceed 5,000.    He accused some critics of unfairly trying to make it sound like residents only want to stifle students' freedoms. "Here you have 100 percent of the residents asking for change and we're being painted as the villains," Rickett complained. He added that principal Elizabeth Panella always seems to pass the buck in telling neighbors problems occurring across the street are the borough's responsibility.   Addressing the council on March 12, Panella denied she was aloof from the residents' concerns. "We need to solve the problem together," she told the council. "This is not just a school problem. This is a societal problem." Deputy Mayor Steve Weinstein, who earlier met with student leaders, asserted March 5 that the teens have rights. "This is a very, very difficult situation, balancing the rights of residents against the rights of students," said the councilman, who has already backed taking corrective steps. "That's because it's a very small group of students causing the problems."    Yet Deputy Mayor Martin Etler showed no such sympathy. "I don't see why these people (students) are complaining about being singled out," he told Weinstein. "They're the ones doing the littering."     --------------------------------------------------------------   Debate over banning parking on part of Orchard Street, near Fair Lawn High School (FLHS) stirred emotions on both sides. Area residents insisted that they need some relief from numerous problems that careless high school students have generated. Yet opponents, namely parent and student leaders, argued that it would penalize many more good students.    Leading the charge for the students were Marianne Pittineo and Arlene Liebman, president and secretary of the FLHS PTA. "The losing of parking spaces near the high school punishes not only the large majority of students not involved in the smoking and the littering, but those who have to visit as well," maintained Pittineo.    Liebman claimed that whatever number is generating problems comes nowhere near the roughly 1,600 students attending the Berdan Avenue site. Student leaders joined the chorus. "We're not certain that there is a relationship between the parking and what's going on," said an impassioned Daniel Dunay, Student Government president. "Banning parking and making all of the students of Fair Lawn High School responsible is wrong," added Mary Hughes, freshman class president. "Because not all the Fair Lawn High School students are irresponsible."    Yet residents who said they have had enough argued something must be done. They viewed ending lunchtime parking as a good first step. Some also claimed that there are far more serious issues, including the discarding of drug residues and condoms. "It's the kids that are vandalizing, that are fighting, that are smoking the cigarettes, and that are litterng," said a fed-up John Feola of Burbank Street. "If they learned to be civilized, I'd have no problem with their parking there. They could park all night long if they wanted to." Phyllis Russo of Orchard concurred. "I myself have picked up garbage and cigarette butts," she said. "No one in my house smokes and yet my front lawn is covered with cigarette butts."    Councilman Vic Amato called for a joint meeting with the school board to discuss the controversy. "This is not going away," he told colleagues.   (Note:  Mr. Neidenberg is a talented local writer ooking for a job.  If you have a job tip, send an e- mail to chrisneidenberg@hotmail.com   What Do You Think?: Send an e- mail to editor@fairlawnnews.com or post a message on the Fair Lawn News Discussion Forum.