SJ Light Rail Causes Problems

A parking ban in a South Jersey town has residents seeing red.

The controversy centers around a rail line in Beverly that nobody in the neighborhood wanted in the first place.

People along Manor Road in Beverly have been parking in front of their homes for years, but now the city has put up "no parking" signs.

New Jersey's new light rail system will start operating this fall from Camden, N.J., to Trenton, N.J. But because of federal safety rules, parking is now banned within 50 feet of Railroad Avenue and Manor Road. It is a block where parking was already tight and car owners are angry.

"Everybody on this block already has more than one vehicle, and for us all to have to park around the corner and blocks away from our homes I think is ridiculous," said Laine Foskey.

"It's sort of like we're all trying to work with it. But we're all fighting over spots," said Mary Massey. "Angry isn't the word. I'm fed up."

The need for a light rail system in South Jersey has already been questioned by many people.

The 34-mile project is well along and very costly at $1 billion and growing. There isn't any firm guess as to how many people would even use it.

The people on Manor Road, like Rebecca Ridgeway prefer their cars.

"We have a right to be able to park wherever we want," Ridgeway said.

But the people who park near a "no parking" sign are facing a ticket -- like Ridgeway's daughter-in-law and her grandson, Joseph.

"I called the mayor and told him that I wasn't going to pay it 'cause I've been here. I was here first before this light rail came in," Foskey said.

"People have got to park behind the houses, down this side street here. And that's a pain too, because a lot of people down there park down that side street. There's no parking at all," complained Patrick Katula.

Beverly mayor Robert Loudoun said that he is working with New Jersey Transit to try and work things out. They are even considering paving over some grassy land that was once a former superfund site, but they are still not finished cleaning it up.

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