Full Notification

Below is an update from Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla on the CLEAR program:  

I want to take a moment to update you about the City’s CLEAR (Camera-based License plate Enforcement for Access & Response Times) program. 

First and foremost, I want to thank our businesses, residents, and visitors for your patience and engagement over the past few weeks. Despite the enormous success of the program in creating safer conditions, we recognize that the rollout of the CLEAR pilot program has not been perfect. While the intent has always been to improve safety and access, and reduce congestion, we have heard that the initial implementation of this program has caused some confusion and frustration, especially for our small businesses and their delivery operations. 

Let’s clear some of that up. You generally aren’t going to receive a ticket if you’re dropping someone off or picking someone up on Washington Street. There is a de facto grace period, albeit undefined, because our parking enforcement officers process violations from the most serious offenses to the least. In fact, we have observed nearly 1,900 violations that did not result in tickets, as the focus of this program prioritizes the most unsafe behaviors. That means our cameras have captured a violation that did not warrant a ticket because of the grace period, or that HPU staff applied discretion and determined that a violation was not warranted. Additionally, we have instituted a cap of one ticket per license plate per week until October 31st, which has also resulted in some violations being dismissed. 

This program is not intended to cause harm. It was created to change behavior around illegal double parking and unsafe loading zone or bus stop abuse. These are issues that many in our community, including businesses, families, and traffic safety advocates, have raised for years. We have already seen promising results in just the first month since announcing CLEAR. Thanks to your efforts, we have documented a significant 71% decrease in double parking in the bike lane, a 76% decrease in overstaying in loading zones, and a 26% decrease in parking in bus stops, which helps make our streets safer for everyone. 

I also want to be clear: this program was not designed to target everyday residents, nor be overly punitive, as some have suggested. To date, we have issued 92 tickets for parking in a bike lane and 201 tickets for parking in a bus stop - these are violations that create real safety hazards for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers. Only 23 of these citations have been issued to Hoboken residents, and not a single ticket has been issued for a loading zone violation so far. 

I fully acknowledge that there have been growing pains. As a pilot program, CLEAR is not a finished product. It is a work in progress that continues to evolve based on your feedback. We are committed to making adjustments and improvements to balance safety without negatively impacting our small business community.  

To that end, we have been working closely with the Hoboken Business Alliance (HBA) from day one to better understand how we can make the program more effective and less burdensome. This includes improving signage, providing guidance to delivery personnel and businesses, launching a survey, and ensuring compliance in a supportive and educational manner. We will continue to engage directly with businesses along the corridor to address these growing pains and facilitate deliveries while promoting safety. 

I want to thank Councilwoman Emily Jabbour for her constructive criticism during the October 8th City Council meeting, as well as for her leadership in proposing a temporary exemption for freight vehicles. I agree that a hold on all tickets for commercial vehicles from the camera-based system, including double parking, parking in bus stops, and loading zone violations, should be in place until at least October 22nd and I have directed the Department of Transportation and Parking to do so. This temporary hold will allow the Council to codify our loading zone time extensions, effectively providing businesses and residents with more access to short-term parking.  

I also want to thank Councilman Michael Russo for supporting the extension of these loading zone hours by an additional 4 hours, seven days a week, on first reading. If adopted at the next Council meeting, the new hours will provide our business community with some relief. To expedite this, I will also be adding a resolution to the next Council agenda to allow the ordinance to immediately take effect so that businesses will be able to benefit from the extended loading zone hours on Washington Street by the next day. 

Unfortunately, despite the clear public safety benefits we have already observed and their prior support for the CLEAR cameras, Councilmembers Paul Presinzano and Tiffanie Fisher have made repeated attempts to end the CLEAR pilot prematurely. Let me repeat: this is a pilot that is scheduled to end at the end of the year. If the pilot is successful, it is my hope it will be extended into the following year. However, simply ending the program early would set back the progress we have made and undercut nearly a two-year study to improve traffic safety and flow along this critical corridor. While I understand that change can be difficult, I encourage them to work collaboratively with my administration to refine the program in a way that aligns with our shared goals, rather than abandoning the program before it has a chance to truly begin.  

By working together thoughtfully, we can continue to improve safety, reduce congestion for drivers, commuters, and emergency vehicles, and better support our businesses by increasing loading zone access, curb access, and pedestrian safety.

I encourage community members to reach out, and I thank everyone for their continued engagement, patience, and partnership. We are listening, and we remain committed to getting this right. 

Please continue to provide feedback at [email protected] and click HERE to learn more about the program.  

Sincerely,   
Ravi S. Bhalla  
Mayor