Tell Us: Should the Racetrack Continue to Hire Police to Regulate Traffic?
Local officials predict a "nightmare," according to a recent Asbury Park Press article.
A recent decision by Monmouth Park to stop hiring local police to help regulate traffic is viewed by many local officials as a "nightmare," according to an article in the Asbury Park Press.
For decades, the race track would pay police to man traffic lights at several high traffic intersections to ease congestion and reduce the incidence of accidents, according to the article.
Officials in Oceanport, West Long Branch and Eatontown received the notice from Monmouth Park about the decision, and say in the article that their departments don't have the funding to pay for the officers.
Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo said during Wednesday night's council meeting that the construction at the intersection of Route 36 and 35 will only cause greater congestion for motorists.
The mayor said he hopes to get in touch with the state to try and get them to send officers to work the lights in order to ease traffic.
John Lewis
6:59 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012
Monmouth is lucky to be open at all . The Police should leave them alone . All the business' in the area already pay taxes . If the police are too busy to do traffic duty, change the format and have the Town hire $15 hr. traffic officers for the summer . The old system is what is driving business into the ground or out of NJ . Good Luck Monmouth Park !
John Mathias
8:51 pm on Thursday, May 3, 2012
Exactly, can't they pay a park employee and give them a whistle? Cops in NJ have too many easy overtime perk jobs like watching road crews fill pot holes.
Paul
9:41 am on Friday, May 4, 2012
So that is who has been paying those guys ! You can't just hire a knucklehead to direct traffic either. If an accident occurs because of this persons conduct he can be held liable for all the injuries and damage. Who's taking on all that liability for $15 an an hour?
Tom K
9:52 am on Friday, May 4, 2012
Agreed, but regardless of WHO they pay to control the traffic lights, SOMEONE needs to do it. The traffic is already bad enough as it is on Route 36 during the summer months simply because of the beach traffic, and now on top of that we have never-ending construction and Monmouth Park traffic... something needs to be done, though...
Ed Fitterer
9:36 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012
My letter to the APP editor: In a May 3, 2012 article it was reported that Monmouth Park’s new management has decided to end the vital and decades old practice of using local police to man traffic lights along the Route 36 corridor and in the immediate surrounding neighborhoods to facilitate the flow of traffic to and from the race track. My response: Are you kidding me?
Eatontown, Oceanport and West Long Branch each experience a substantial influx of traffic consisting primarily of aggressive drivers on their way to the race track who are jockeying for position and maneuvering through and around the sea of cars ahead of them. To make matters far worse, as the use of GPS units become more and more prevalent, residents cannot help but notice the increased, and at times steady, flow of track traffic being diverted off the highway (to avoid the Route 36 congestion) and onto the small streets of our sidewalk-less neighborhoods.
Monmouth Park must be kind to its neighbors and reinstate its practice of using the local police to man traffic lights and manage the traffic caused by its race fans. Our local police departments should take the reins, step up traffic enforcement and enact a zero tolerance policy for aggressive driving during the peak hours of track traffic.
Edmund F. Fitterer, Jr., Esq.
Republican Candidate for Eatontown Council
Traffic Advisory Committee, Chairman
Eatontown Planning Board, Member