Montclair's perpetual need for parking is now extending to backyards on Forest Street. Granted, most of them are paved with asphalt and are already zoned to allow the parking of five cars. But according to a Star Ledger story, local plastic surgeon Allen Rosen and Neal O'Shea are on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to rezoning Forest Street back yards to allow for the annexing of the spaces as parking lots. O'Shea, who likened new investors on the street to "carpetbaggers" also had this to say:

"I don't see (this happening) in the posh areas of town. ... This is a working-class neighborhood. These people are some of the least able to defend themselves," said O'Shea, who moved to Forest Street eight years ago from New York City and today, with wife, Denise, has a young child.

O'Shea's common driveway would become an exit and entrance for office parking lots. We're guessing playing in the backyard isn't much fun when you have to keep saying "Heads up kids, there's a car coming to park for a botox treatment."

January 24, 2005 in Scooped by Phil Read, Again | Permalink