If you believe members of the Jersey City Division of Parking, all of whom spoke to the Jersey Journal on the condition of anonymity, parking enforcement officers in the city have to “issue a ticket every 30 minutes.” According to the article published on August 21, 2020, four members of the Division say they are expected to issue a set number of parking tickets every day they work.
The article goes on to say that parking supervisors expect their parking enforcement officers to issue “a set number of parking tickets every day, regardless of how many illegally parked cars they find.”
In addition, the article says parking enforcement employees are penalized if they fail to reach their stated goal.
Hudson TV sent an email to Jersey City spokesperson Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione seeking comment, but as of this publication, we had not heard back. Wallace-Scalcione did provide a quote for the Journal. She stated, “There is not and has never been a quota for parking tickets. Parking enforcement is required to write tickets for all illegally parked vehicles, especially those posing a safety issue.”
The Jersey City Parking Authority was dissolved by Mayor Steven Fulop in 2014. The Mayor merged the once autonomous Authority into the Public Safety Department at the time, claiming it would save taxpayers, on average, a million dollars a year.
The last year statistics are available for the number of parking tickets issued in Jersey City is 2017. The Jersey Journal reports the city issued more than 341,500 parking tickets that year, bringing in a whopping total of almost $18 million.
So, your best advice when parking in Jersey City? Park legally and make sure your meter doesn’t expire.
