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New resident urges city for handicap parking near home; council and staff outline options
Summary
A new Passaic resident asked the council June 17 for help getting a handicap parking sign near her house; engineering and city staff described rules and enforcement steps and asked her to follow up with the engineering office.
A new resident told the Passaic City Council June 17 that she has a special‑needs child and needs a handicap parking designation near her home.
Wendy, who identified herself as a resident of Passaic for four months, described her child as “on the spectrum level 3” and “nonverbal” and said school buses that stop near her house sometimes go around stop signs, creating safety concerns. “It takes half a second to just look away if something could happen,” she said, describing instances when she needed to get her son to medical care quickly.
Mayor Hector C. Laura and staff directed Wendy to the city’s engineering department for an application and said the engineering office will review the block’s existing handicap designations. The mayor said state rules limit handicap parking on a single block to no more than 4% of available spaces; if existing signs are unused the city council’s ordinance allows removal and reallocation.
Regarding parked vehicles left on the street by nearby mechanics, the mayor said the administration has attorneys working on a stricter ordinance to prohibit mechanics from leaving vehicles on the street overnight and that targeted enforcement and overnight parking permits have been used in some areas. The mayor asked Wendy to leave her address with the police or engineering staff so officials could investigate; he invited her to return to a future meeting if she did not get a resolution.
A staff speaker identified as Jonathan explained that handicap parking designations and parking‑permit requests go through the engineering department and that the state issues the underlying disability placard or decal through motor vehicles. The mayor and council said the police department could be asked to respond to specific addresses if vehicles are left and do not move.
Wendy said she already had a state disability placard and that engineering told her “there's enough on my street already.” Council President Shayer and other council members urged staff to verify whether existing handicap signs were actively used and to consider reassignment if not.
The exchange was recorded during the public‑comment portion of the meeting; the council did not take formal action at the meeting but asked staff to follow up and invited the commenter to return if the issue was not resolved.
