Police inspecting an unhitched trailer on Tilton Avenue as part of a recent crackdown. The trailer was gone the next day. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Red Bank’s crackdown on work trailers left parked on the street has begun in earnest. After sending written warnings first, police have issued more than a dozen summonses and one arrest warrant to owners of trailers violating a new 48-hour rule.
A trailer on Bank Street was newly covered by a tarp but remained where it has sat for years Tuesday. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
In November 2023, the borough council adopted a change to the parking ordinance that says no one may “park, leave or store any inoperable motor vehicles or motor drawn vehicles, or trailer on any public streets, parking lots, rights-of-way, lands or premises except in case of emergency, and then for a period of not more than 48 hours.” The ordinance was in response to complaints of work vehicles parked for long periods of time that could make it difficult for traffic, especially emergency vehicles, to navigate around them.
Police then began a warning period, mailing letters to the registered owners of all trailers parked in violation of the law.
“As a result, some were moved, and some stayed,” Red Bank Police Capt. Mike Frazee said in an email to redbankgreen.
In recent weeks, between 13-15 summonses have been issued to owners whose trailers have defied or ignored the warnings, Frazee said. The names of trailer owners cited were not made public.
Several owners received more than one summons after continuing to violate the law, he said. And one unnamed owner who failed to comply has been issued a warrant for his arrest after his trailer was towed. The owner does not live in Red Bank, Frazee noted.
On Tilton Avenue Monday, police could be seen photographing and inspecting a black trailer laden with yard waste as part of the crackdown. The trailer was gone the next day.
At the council meeting in November, Bank Street resident William Poku, who owns a junk-laden trailer that has been parked curbside for years, asked for a delay in the passage of the ordinance to no avail.
Conditions at the 90 Bank Street property, which is packed with a half dozen vehicles and hundreds of containers and piles of materials, have been the subject of neighbors’ complaints and legal battles with the borough for years.
On Tuesday, the trailer remained parked on the street albeit with one new change: a green tarp had been placed over the piles of wood and other scrap materials.
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