Haddonfield Today 135_2023Oct13_Parking

#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
Peeved About Parking?
haddonfield.today | 23
The Borough of Haddonfield bungled
the transition from parking meters
to pay-at-kiosk and pay-by app.
The transition was:
• Poorly conceived
• Poorly planned
• Poorly implemented
• Poorly publicized
The most egregious bungles?
• Prioritizing parking cash over parking control
• Failing to consult and communicate with
business owners, residents, and shoppers
• Eliminating free parking on Saturdays
• Eliminating 12 free minutes
• Failing to recognize users’ technology challenges
• Failing to anticipate the marketing and
reputation implications of a botched roll-out
ALL IS NOT LOST!
The commissioners can restore free parking
on Saturdays with the stroke of a pen.
More than 2,200 petitioners have
called on them to do that, without delay!
Most importantly: To ensure future success
– in all areas – the commissioners must do a
better job of consulting and communicating
with their constituents.

24 | haddonfield.today
Peeved About Parking?
#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
Scan to SIGN THE
PETITION
Parking 101
› Let’s start with three fundamental facts:
• People hate paying for parking. Not just here in Haddonfield. Or in Collingswood. Or
in Philadelphia. Everywhere.
Therefore, parking authorities must ensure that the process of paying for parking is as
painless as possible.
• The primary purpose of parking meters is to influence motorists’ use of parking
spaces – not to produce revenue for municipal coffers. See box, below.
• Parking meters work. They’ve been around since 1935 and in Haddonfield since 1950.
They’re easy to install. .
Easy to use. Easy to maintain.
Easy to replace.
Modern parking meters
can be operated with coins,
credit cards, and smartphone
apps and powered with
small solar panels. They can
be configured to provide a
period of free parking at the
push of a button. They can
be located conveniently –
right next to spaces where
vehicles are parked. And
they can provide statistics
electronically and remotely,
so parking authorities can
track and evaluate their
usage and performance.
Parking meters are
working effectively in
Haddon Heights, Haddon
The Haddonfield Herald Weekly. June 8, 1950. Page 1
Township, and Moorestown.
A major change in purpose
› Ever since they were introduced in Haddonfield on Sep 1,
1950, parking meters have been used to control the length
of time drivers parked in particular locations.
Meters in front of the Post Office, for example, provided a
maximum of only 12 minutes, encouraging drivers to park,
do their business, and leave, thus making spaces available
for other drivers.
Meters in remote locations provided economical
parking for up to 12 hours – ideal for business owners and
employees. And meters in the center of town enabled drivers
to park for a couple of hours – ideal for shoppers and diners.
Now, there’s no difference between the rate in front of the
Post Office and that at a prime spot on Kings Highway.
In both places, someone who works in an office or a store
downtown can park for up to seven hours in front of the
Post Office or up to nine hours on the Highway, effectively
depriving shoppers and diners of short-term spots close to
their destinations.
As downtown workers now see it: If it costs me just as
much to park blocks away as it does to park right outside the
store where I work ... Duh!
u Mayor Colleen Bianco
Bezich: Paid parking has
existed for decades as it
represents an opportunity
to offset costs associated
with waste collection, visual
enhancements, and even
public safety functions within
the Downtown, which we are
working even harder to grow
into a true destination within
the region.
Instead of imposing a
burden solely upon our
residential taxpayers, paid
parking is a method of
capturing revenue from those
who drive in to enjoy our
shopping & dining, as well as
larger experiential events and
festivals.
[Patch.com. Sep 5, 2023]

#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
Peeved About Parking?
haddonfield.today | 25
Scan to SIGN THE
PETITION
The Retrospect. October 6, 2023. Page 4
She said. He said.
› Did the Partnership for Haddonfield – the nonprofit entity that manages the business
district – in fact have no input on the Borough’s proposed changes?
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 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 in February.

26 | haddonfield.today
Peeved About Parking?
9:30pm (Friday evening was prime time for shopping).
The justification was
spelled out in the preamble
to the Ordinance. (See box.)
The purpose was clear:
While a parking meter
system has every where
paid its own way, it is not
contemplated primarily as
a source of revenue as much
as for its regulatory effect.
[Haddonfield Herald Weekly,
Jun 8, 1950]
At various subsequent
times:
• Free parking was provided
in front of doctors’ and
dentists’ offices, and outside
funeral homes.
• Many meters offered an
initial 12 minutes for free.
• Long-term parking
areas were designated (at
Snowden Ave, for example)
as were zones where
employees of downtown
#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
A little history
› The post-war growth of Haddonfield as the regional center of commerce and the
increasing popularity of the automobile – by 1948, half of all US households owned a
vehicle – led to traffic congestion on Kings Highway and side streets, with some drivers
(typically those who worked in town) parking in prime spots all day.
To regulate parking in the downtown, the commissioners followed the lead of many other
small towns across the country and installed parking meters on Kings Highway, Chestnut,
Tanner, Centre, and Ellis Streets, and Haddon and Friends Avenues.
Meters went into operation on September 1, 1950: Monday thru Thursday and
Saturday from 8:30am to 6pm (office-based work was common on Saturdays); Friday to
The Haddon Gazette. September 21, 1950. Page 4
businesses that purchased annual permits could park (behind the Mini-Mall and in the
Tanner/Allen lot, for example).
• Fees were increased from time to time, and varied from zone to zone.
• In mid 2011, the Borough replaced meters on Tanner Street, behind the Mini-Mall, in the
Tanner/Allen (behind Haddy Lane), and behind the Borough Hall with kiosks that accepted
both currency and credit cards.
• In mid 2022, the Borough upgraded the kiosks. The
Police Chief made an informative video, explaining how to
use them.
• In early 2023, the Borough replaced most meters with
signs reading: “Pay to Park Mon-Fri 9am-6pm.”
• In mid 2023, the Borough lost 90 spaces (47 metered
and 43 permit) when it closed the Snowden Lot, the site of
its Elizabeth Place affordable housing development.
• Sep 1, 2023 (73 years to the day after meters were
installed): Signs now read “Pay to Park Mon-Sat 9am-8pm.”
• Sep 20, 2023 – Online petition calls for the restoration of
free parking on Saturdays. Signatures to date: 2,200+.
Scan to SIGN THE
PETITION
Quotes
u Bruce Epstein, owner
of Just Bella:
If the Borough wants to
make money downtown, all
they need do is put a police
officer in front of the Baptist
Church to issue tickets to
drivers who turn left from
Tanner Street on to Kings
Highway.
They’d write ten tickets a
day, minimum!

#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
Peeved About Parking?
Problem #1
› Charging for parking on Saturday has
alienated shoppers, crippled some retailers’
business on the busiest day of the week,
and damaged Haddonfield’s reputation as
the best downtown in the region.
haddonfield.today | 27
Scan to SIGN THE
PETITION
Solution #1
› Restore free parking on Saturdays.
It’s not difficult. The commissioners can do
it with the stroke of a pen.
Problem #2
› When they need to park for just a few minutes, drivers are
flouting the law by not paying or by parking in bus stops and
against yellow curbs.
Solution #2
› Install new, modern meters outside the Post Office
(on both S Haddon Ave and Harding Ave), in front of The UPS
Store (Kings Hwy E) – see Problem/Solution #7 – and near
the Library (on N Haddon Ave).
POM Incorporated, a 100% woman-owned business
in Russellville AR, is descended from the original Park-
O-Meter factory and “has continued a proud tradition of
manufacturing high quality, durable parking meters for the
ever-changing worldwide parking market.”
POM’s solar-powered meters can be fitted with a button
that provides an initial period of time for free. Parking fees
can be paid with coins, cards, or app.
Sliding Gate
PATCO Lot
Problem #3
› Finding a place to park at the busiest
times – Friday evenings and Saturdays – can
be difficult and frustrating. (Having to pay
for it now adds insult to injury.)
Solution #3
› Arrange for the Police to open the sliding
gate between the PATCO lot and the Tanner/
Allen Lot at 6pm on Friday and close it
sometime after 9pm on Sunday.
The agreement with PATCO and the
signage are already in place!
The sign reads: FREE PARKING. Friday evenings from 6pm. Saturday. Sunday.
Provided by PATCO and the Borough of Haddonfield. A Partnership for Progress.

28 | haddonfield.today
Peeved About Parking?
Problem #4
› Most evening meetings
at the Borough Hall begin
at 7pm or 7:30pm. Now,
because metered parking
is in effect until 8pm on
weekdays, volunteer
members of Borough boards
and commissions and
members of the public who
drive to the Borough Hall
must pay to attend public
meetings.
Solution #4
› Don’t have one. Any
suggestions?
Problem #5
› Shoppers are parking for
free in the Acme lot and
walking to stores downtown,
to the Post Office, and to the
Farmers Market.
Solution #5
› Any suggestions?
Problem #6
› Some drivers – typically
(but not always) seniors – are
technologically challenged,
don’t have a smartphone, or
don’t have a credit card.
They can pay with cash at
a kiosk, but the signs on the
old parking meter poles do
not indicate where the kiosks
are, kiosks are few and far
between, and some kiosks
are not easy to spot.
Solution #6
› The Borough is planning
to introduce a parking pass
for Haddonfield seniors age
60 and up, on January 1. It
will cost $20 per year.
But what about out-oftown
visitors? Drivers with
flip phones? Drivers who just
don’t want to use the app?
What about drivers in
wheelchairs?
Any suggestions?
Old metered space
#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
Scan to SIGN THE
PETITION
Bus zone
Problem #7
› There’s a bus stop in front of The UPS Store (230 Kings
Hwy E, just off S Haddon Ave). There used to be two parking
spaces with meters that offered 12 minutes for free. UPS
customers could slip in, do their business, and slip out.
The parking space in front of the bus zone was always
undersized. The back portion of a car parked in that space
always encroached on the bus zone. (See photo, above.)
Now, there are no marked spaces, just two old meter poles
with signs that allow drivers to park all day if they wish.
Even more often than before, UPS customers are parking
in the bus zone and dashing into the store. (Or, as UPS
employees report, “going to our competitor in Westmont
instead.”) When a bus arrives, it has to stop in the street,
rather than in its zone against the curb, blocking traffic
behind it. Everyone gets annoyed: Bus drivers, other drivers,
bus passengers, UPS customers, UPS employees.
Solution #7
› Convince NJ Transit (or whomever) to move the bus stop
to the east, in front of Wildfether Distillery or the Borough
Hall. If in front of Wildfether, no parking spaces will be lost.
(The curb is yellow.) If in front of Borough Hall, two or the
three spaces there could be transferred to in front of UPS.
New, modern meters with 12-minutes-for-free buttons –
see Problem/Solution #2 – could then be installed, resulting
in a WIN for the Borough, a WIN for UPS, a WIN for UPS
customers, a WIN for bus drivers, a WIN for bus passengers,
and a WIN for drivers (who no longer have to wait behind a
bus parked in the street).
Next time, ask Artificial Intelligence
› We posed the following question to ChatGPT:
A historic New Jersey town with a population of 12,000
and an attractive and vibrant downtown shopping district is
planning to replace its parking meters with pay-to-park kiosks
and a pay-to-park smartphone app.
What are the positives, the negatives, and the alternatives?
Read the stunning answer – which ChatGPT produced in
less than a minute – here: bit.ly/3ZRnCKX or scan n.

#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
Peeved About Parking?
haddonfield.today | 29
Scan to SIGN THE
PETITION
Quotes
u Scott Boren, owner of
The Happy Hippo:
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.
u Antonne Jones, owner
of Groovy Smovies: [Free
parking on Saturdays is] just
one of those Haddonfield
conveniences that people
grew accustomed to and
appreciated. [NBC10, Sep 28]
u Mayor Colleen Bianco
Bezich: Parking rates and
the business-district tax have
remained the same for years
while our costs continue to
rise, so this additional revenue
is a way to generate income
that doesn’t place the burden
solely on our commercial
landlords and residents.
[CBS3, Oct 5, 2023]
Comment: Proof positive
that the Borough now views
obtaining revenue from
parking as more important
than regulating it.
u Haddonfield librarian:
Without advance
notification, the Borough
converted the permit spaces
for Library staff on Haddon
Avenue to regular paying
spaces. Employees now have
to park in the Stiles lot.
She writes: The library
closes at 6 or 8 every [week]
night so employees (99% of
whom are female) have to
walk to this dark and isolated
area. And adds: [E]very
single patron who comes in,
regardless of age, complains
about the new parking
system.
The Haddonfield Herald Weekly. August 17, 1950. Page 1
Marketing 101
› The first three things that marketing students learn are:
1. Differentate! Businesses must set themselves and
their products/services apart from their competitors.
Until recently, one of the significant ways that
Haddonfield differentiated itself from Collingswood was
that Collingswood charges for parking seven days a week,
from 9am to 9pm, whereas Haddonfield had free parking
on weekends, and charged for parking only until 6pm on
weekdays. But now, shoppers, diners, and out-of-town
visitors must pay to park on Saturdays from 9am to 8pm.
Haddonfield gave up a key differentiator.
2. “FREE!” is good. “Fee” is bad. In making the changes
described above, Haddonfield replaced one of the most
positive words in the English language – “free” – with one of
the most negative – “fee.”
3. Get input! There’s a reason businesses conduct focus
groups before they launch a new product or make major
changes to an existing product. A reason that theatrical
producers hold out-of-town previews for Broadway shows.
And political parties conduct polls of likely voters.
It’s to find out what customers think of the product, the
show, or the issue before it’s unleashed on an unsuspecting
(and critical) public.
It the commissioners had been listening, they would have
learned that residents, shoppers, and out-of-town visitors
have been less than enthusiastic about kiosks ever since they
were introduced in 2011. They may have understood that
“the latest” is not necessarily “the greatest,” and purchased
new, modern meters instead.
In May 2022, Patch.com reported: Haddonfield is in the
process of installing new parking kiosks. The changes are
meant to provide a “more convenient parking experience,” the
police department said.
Did anyone from the Police Department go and stand
in the vicinity of the original kiosks and watch how users
interacted with them? Or approach them afterwards to ask
about their experience?
Sorry, but the grade in this marketing class is a solid F.

30 | haddonfield.today
Peeved About Parking?
Problem #8
› Six weeks after the
new payment system was
introduced, the “Public
Parking” page of the
Borough’s website remains
years out of date.
The Borough published
nothing about the most
recent changes in advance.
Under the “Latest News”
tab on the Borough website,
the newest item – dated
Jul 19, 2023 – relates to
Moody’s ratings for the
Borough’s bonds and notes.
The Borough has
published nothing about
the new parking scheme on
its website this year.
Solution #8
› Fix it!
Quotes
u Susan Hoch, resident:
Lost in the discussion to
date has been any mention
of access for people who
use walkers, scooters, or
wheelchairs. (About 9% of NJ
residents between 35 and 60
are disabled.)
Haddonfield needs special
spaces in front of UPS, the
Post Office, and Borough Hall.
u Bill Green, owner of
Jewelry Mechanix:
If brick-and-mortar
businesses are to survive,
they must offer convenience
(including parking), unique
products, and the personal
services that cannot be
duplicated on the Internet.
Small business is the heart
of the USA, and Saturday is
the busiest day of the week.
Weekend traffic helps pay
a large share of our weekly
expenses. Let’s not alienate
the Saturday customers
who have supported us so
faithfully for so many years.
#135 • OCTOBER 13 TO NOVEMBER 3, 2023
Scan to SIGN THE
PETITION
What would Disney do?
› While walking around Disneyland one day, not long
after it opened, Walt Disney stopped for a hot dog. He
ate it as he continued his stroll, and finished eating
after about thirty steps.
“There needs to be a trash can right here,” he said.
That’s how the 30-step rule for trash cans in Disney
parks was instituted. At every Disney theme park you’ll
find trash cans placed every 30 steps or so, making it
convenient for visitors to dispose of their trash.
If those who design the features and amenities in
public spaces would pause from time to time and ask
themselves “WWDD?” (What Would Disney Do?), our
downtowns would be much more pleasant places to
visit and their features and amenities would be much
more convenient to use.
Parking – everywhere – is about convenience.
The dream is to find a free parking spot right at your
destination. Failing that, you hope to find a spot that’s
reasonably close and to pay quickly, economically,
and intuitively. Parking meters were – and still are –
convenient for two reasons: They’re located right where
you need them. And they’re easy to use.
The reason so many people responded so quickly to
the petition in the September 22 issue of Haddonfield
Today is that almost everything about Haddonfield’s
new parking system is inconvenient.
Kiosks are rarely right where you need them (unless
you luck out and get a spot close by). And the payment
methods are certainly not as easy to use as the coin-inthe-slot
meters were.
After experiencing this inconvenience, many readers
are complaining about it to retailers and restaurateurs,
to parking enforcement officers (especially if they get a
ticket), and to the commissioners.
The commissioners plan to use revenue from parking
to fund improvements in the business district. They
want those who use the downtown to be the ones who
pay, rather than property owners. We understand that
approach. However, the system they’ve introduced
totally abandons the historic and fundamental purpose
of pay-to-park schemes: To encourage the turnover of
parking spaces in the central business district, making it
convenient for drivers to park close to their destinations.
In these “Peeved About Parking” pages, we describe
a number of problems that need to be fixed ... and offer
some solutions. We hope the Borough will address
them seriously.
More than 2,200 have signed an online petition
calling on the Borough to restore free parking in
Haddonfield on Saturdays. The commissioners can
respond with the stroke of a pen.
It’s what Disney would do.