Thank you, CBS3 and Ryan Hughes for a terrific report at 5pm on Thursday, October 5, 2023. WATCH HERE!

SHE SAID: "[T]he borough's business association, Partnership for Haddonfield, and the larger business community as a whole played a huge role in changing to the modern parking meters and expanding the hours." Mayor Colleen Bianco Bezich, quoted in The Retrospect, September 29, 2023.

HE SAID: "[The Partnership for Haddonfield] had nothing to do with the decision to change the parking meters in downtown." Sean Leonard, PFH Chair. Email to David Hunter (petition initiator), September 29, 2023.

SO ... 

• Would not six of the oldest businesses in town be part of "the larger business community as a whole" and among the first to be consulted? Those six business owners, who represent a total of more than 320 years in Haddonfield – also say they're not aware of any other merchants who were consulted.
• What's the mayor's definition of "huge." (Ours is 2,000 signatures on a petition.)
• Did the Partnership for Haddonfield – the nonprofit entity that manages the business district – in fact have no input on the Borough's proposed changes?

Judge for yourself. 

According to the minutes of the Partnership’s February 22, 2023 meeting, “[Mayor Bianco Bezich] asked for feedback about parking to see room for improvement.” And the Board “rebuffed comments about the lack of ’12-minute free parking [in the Borough's plan].’”

Asked in late September what "rebuffed" meant, the Partnership's executive director explained: "Board members heard iterations of comments made about 12 minute parking and found them inconsequential to the success of the downtown. The tone of the conversation [was] in favor of the new parking system as it was presented by the Borough in February."

In other words, the Partnership – whose mission is to advocate for the business district – gave the Borough a green light not only to do away with the 12-minutes-for-free parking perk but also to implement the "new parking system" as described by the Mayor during the February meeting. 

That, apparently, was before the Borough decided to add Saturdays and extend the hours to 8pm. It is not known if the Borough ran the added day and extended hours proposal by the Partnership, because minutes of Partnership meetings since April are not yet available.

The Partnership has committees on marketing, networking, retail retention and recruitment, visual enhancements, and events. But it doesn't have a committee on traffic and parking. Why on earth not? 

Scott Boren, owner of The Happy Hippo says: "We've been in Haddonfield for 44 years. The number one thing that customers have always complained about is parking. Why would the Borough poke the bear by taking away free parking on Saturdays? It doesn't make sense." 

Fred Meserall (of Meserall Vision Hearing, a 75-year, three-generation business): "I personally wouldn't want to come into town for something I wanted to do real quick. I think it's going to be a deterrent."

Many others feel the same way. Not only about the Borough's charging to park on Saturdays but also about pulling the free 12 minutes. Just ask the clerks at the Post Office and the staff at The UPS Store, both of which used to see a lot of in-and-out traffic. Complaints upon complaints.

The Borough's changes to metered parking in Haddonfield will serve a textbook example of a poor concept, poor planning, poor implementation, and poor publicity.

2,000 signatories to a petition understand that. When will the commissioners admit it? And fix it?

If you haven't signed the petition, please do so now, HERE. 

If you have, please forward it to a friend, post it on social media, and talk it up!