Julie Yermack is on a mission to save Montclair High School (MHS) students some dough.
Yermack, 17, says students are unhappy with last year’s decision by the Township Council to institute parking permits for MHS seniors. The permits are too expensive, and students who don’t buy them are punished with excessive parking tickets, she said.
Students’ families already pay "really ridiculous" property taxes, and they shouldn’t have to pay more to park near the school, she said.
"We’re coming to school to get an education," Yermack told The Times. "We’re not going to a sporting event, or going to a mall … We’re going to get an education. We shouldn’t be charged simply because we have to come to school."
She added that some students who have permits report receiving parking tickets anyway.
Yermack spoke out against the permits during the Oct. 21 council meeting. Though she spoke alone, she told the council she could have brought hundreds of students to speak in support of her cause.
The permits were the result of numerous meetings between municipal and school officials, as well as students and residents, according to Township Manager Joseph M. Hartnett. Before the permits were created, residents who live near MHS complained of students littering, loitering, and causing traffic.
Issuing permits was thought to be the best available compromise, Hartnett said, though he acknowledged the plan did not please everyone.
"Nobody was entirely happy," he said.
The parking permits for MHS students are $90 per semester and $180 per year. They are available for up to 175 students.
Students who have valid parking permits can park all day on portions of Central Avenue, Midland Avenue, and Park Street.
For those without permits, the time limit for parking in those areas is four hours.
Nearer to MHS, there are two-hour parking zones on Chestnut Street, James Street, Midland Avenue, and North Fullerton Avenue. Teachers with valid parking permits can park in those zones all day, but students who park there must move their cars every two hours.
John Teubner, executive director of the Montclair Parking Authority, said parking issues in the area of MHS have gone "rather smooth" since the township began issuing the permits. Though he didn’t have specific numbers available, Teubner said about 100 students applied for the permits for the 2007-08 school year, compared to about 80 for the current school year.
Students with permits who have come to the parking authority to investigate why they were given parking tickets soon discover they had accidentally parked in the two-hour zones, according to Teubner.
Regarding Yermack’s complaint about students having to pay to park near the school, Teubner said there’s little he can do. His entity has to implement the parking ordinances approved by the council, he said.
"As a parking authority, we charge everyone to park their car, whether they’re going to school or going to work," Teubner said, adding that some residents who don’t have garages have to pay to park on their streets.
He noted that MHS is an open campus, so students are free to move their cars once every two or four hours if they do not want to pay for a parking permit.
These arguments don’t sway Yermack, who insists students cannot afford $180 annually, on top of gasoline and school supplies. While council members praised her Oct. 21 address, Yermack said she gets the feeling they will not approve any changes to make parking less expensive for MHS students.
She vowed to speak to the council until they address the problem, and next time she’ll bring along as many students as she can to crowd the council chambers, she said.
"At the very least, it has to be changed for the classes to come," she said. "Someone needs to do something about it."
