Last night in a 9-0 vote, the Hoboken City Council passed a resolution banning e-scooters on the waterfront and in parks, but not before the public heard two very compelling speakers and some of the usual council grandstanding.
I admit to being ambivalent about nuisance issues surrounding the e-scooter program. But the speakers last night changed my mind.
And what about that council noise about how the City dropped the ball on the rollout... who voted on the City's roll-out in the resolution approving the PILOT Program? The Council did. It passed 8-1.
In my view, keeping e-scooters off sidewalks is not an enforcement issue; no amount of enforcement is going to stop idiots from reckless behavior, including underage kids from taking joyrides. Forget about the HPD. They have a full plate protecting Hoboken residents from real crime like larceny, burglary, assault, rape and homicide. In fact, they are working so hard that the crime rate in Hoboken has fallen astronomically; from 41 incidents per 1,000 residents (2001) to 8.6 residents per 1,000 residents this year.
Our police need to focus on criminal law enforcement, not chasing 250 LIME e-scooters around Hoboken or babysitting 13 year-old joyriders like the one who slammed his Ojo into a mom and baby.
I admit to being ambivalent about nuisance issues surrounding the e-scooter program. But the speakers last night changed my mind.
And what about that council noise about how the City dropped the ball on the rollout... who voted on the City's roll-out in the resolution approving the PILOT Program? The Council did. It passed 8-1.
In my view, keeping e-scooters off sidewalks is not an enforcement issue; no amount of enforcement is going to stop idiots from reckless behavior, including underage kids from taking joyrides. Forget about the HPD. They have a full plate protecting Hoboken residents from real crime like larceny, burglary, assault, rape and homicide. In fact, they are working so hard that the crime rate in Hoboken has fallen astronomically; from 41 incidents per 1,000 residents (2001) to 8.6 residents per 1,000 residents this year.
Our police need to focus on criminal law enforcement, not chasing 250 LIME e-scooters around Hoboken or babysitting 13 year-old joyriders like the one who slammed his Ojo into a mom and baby.
That mom, Kate Cohen, spoke last night.
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| Mom and baby struck by a 13 year-old joyrider |
She brought her double wide stroller and a large photo board with her to demonstrate where her toddler and infant usually sit. The day of the accident, the side her toddler sits in was empty-- thank G-d-- because that is where the e-scooter impacted. Her description of what 65 lbs of metal slamming into flesh could have done, had her toddler been in that empty seat, really resonated.
The other speaker was Shalini Menon, a blind Stevens student. Menon described how her cane cannot find e-scooters left in her path, and how she has been hit twice and fallen twice. In spite of her visual handicap, this gal is fiercely independent, and has rebuffed offers for escorts to avoid another e-scooter accident. As a result, she fears walking around campus and the streets of Hoboken.
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| Blind student fell twice because of escooters left in her path |
Notably neither speaker asked the council to end the e-scooter program. Neither wants to end it, they want to mend it. As in no scooters riding on the sidewalk, or left idling there. But how?
GIATTINO CONGRATULATES SELF, ETC.
The mood in the room turned after the two aforementioned speakers; the shift was palpable even on Facebook. Selected council members up for re-election jockeyed for recognition that they ALWAYS thought e-scooters sucked and/or SHAME on the mayor for bringing them to Hoboken.
Jen Giattino reminded everyone how she was the lone Council member to vote against the e-scooter PILOT, how her instincts were right all along. Were they? Either you agree Giattino was right or you believe that the PILOT was necessary for Hoboken to determine whether e-scooters were a public benefit or not. Eight members of the council who voted on the contract believed that the City and our e-scooter vendors would be educated on a wealth of metrics on how the program works (or doesn't) in Hoboken, all to provide a road map to make the program succeed.
Mike Russo wanted to end the e-scooter program right here! Right now! Better yet, take a trip through the Time Tunnel and end it yesterday!
Ruben Ramos was more measured; he said that the City should wait until the LIME contract expires in November, then use the winter months to resolve the safety and enforcement issues and e-scooter parking.
But the showstopper was Michael DeFusco bloviating about how he'd warned the city about the e-scooter rollout (the rollout he voted for) but Mayor Evil chose instead to sandbag Hoboken and even took a photo riding an e-scooter!... how could he! Mike Russo interrupted, noting that DeFusco had effusively praised the e-scooters and even posed with them in photos! Have you seen his new mailer?
If the council's whiplash is any indication, the future of Hoboken's e-scooter experiment is on shaky ground.
GA would like to see it succeed, if only there is a way to restrict them to roads and streets. If scooters can be blocked from a park by geofencing, does LIME have the technology to geofence Hoboken's street grid, leaving only areas where cars drive (street, roads) operational? Like this: (don't laugh at me, I'm not an engineer)
GIATTINO CONGRATULATES SELF, ETC.
The mood in the room turned after the two aforementioned speakers; the shift was palpable even on Facebook. Selected council members up for re-election jockeyed for recognition that they ALWAYS thought e-scooters sucked and/or SHAME on the mayor for bringing them to Hoboken.
Jen Giattino reminded everyone how she was the lone Council member to vote against the e-scooter PILOT, how her instincts were right all along. Were they? Either you agree Giattino was right or you believe that the PILOT was necessary for Hoboken to determine whether e-scooters were a public benefit or not. Eight members of the council who voted on the contract believed that the City and our e-scooter vendors would be educated on a wealth of metrics on how the program works (or doesn't) in Hoboken, all to provide a road map to make the program succeed.
Mike Russo wanted to end the e-scooter program right here! Right now! Better yet, take a trip through the Time Tunnel and end it yesterday!
Ruben Ramos was more measured; he said that the City should wait until the LIME contract expires in November, then use the winter months to resolve the safety and enforcement issues and e-scooter parking.
But the showstopper was Michael DeFusco bloviating about how he'd warned the city about the e-scooter rollout (the rollout he voted for) but Mayor Evil chose instead to sandbag Hoboken and even took a photo riding an e-scooter!... how could he! Mike Russo interrupted, noting that DeFusco had effusively praised the e-scooters and even posed with them in photos! Have you seen his new mailer?
MICHAEL DEFUSCO FOR HOBOKEN CITY COUNCIL MAILER
If the council's whiplash is any indication, the future of Hoboken's e-scooter experiment is on shaky ground.
GA would like to see it succeed, if only there is a way to restrict them to roads and streets. If scooters can be blocked from a park by geofencing, does LIME have the technology to geofence Hoboken's street grid, leaving only areas where cars drive (street, roads) operational? Like this: (don't laugh at me, I'm not an engineer)
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| Would this work? |
How do we ban double strollers from the sidewalk, they're just as much of a nuisance?
ReplyDeleteI have empathy for those who've been hit, especially the visually impaired person who spoke, but let's not throw the scooter out with the bathwater. It's time people learn to share the streets and waterfront. If scooter riders use the bike lanes, why ban them from the waterfront? As usual it comes down to ego-centrism and political fodder.
Technology is a funny thing. It can improve your life, but just about every time it's introduced, learning to use it responsibly and safely happens afterwards (since it hasn't existed or been utilized in the current form/iteration before). Just like cars, airplanes, bikes, roller skates, skateboards, etc - we need to figure out how the technology can be used responsibly. Or we can stop innovating...
ReplyDeleteAs this town has almost doubled in population in my 30 years, our sidewalks have not gotten any wider and outdoor cafes and sidewalk vending has exploded (and I doubt all are in compliance with city regulations regarding size and height of umbrellas, etc.).
ReplyDeleteNow adding scooters to the mix on top of the bicycles on the sidewalks is literally making it dangerous to walk down Washington street. Low hanging tree branches, umbrellas hanging into the what is left of walkable space on the sidewalk. I'm playing real live Pokemon trying to to get hit by random objects.
Rant triggered by bicycle on sidewalk whipping around corner on First/Wash causing me to jump out of the way and trip on an e-scooter under a low hanging tree branch that hit me in the forehead.