A group of Englewood residents attended a town council meeting Tuesday to express their concern about recent road restrictions imposed by neighboring Leonia.
Leonia officials blocked dozens of local roads to nonresidents in an effort to limit the amount of traffic in town. The officials say that hundreds of drivers cut through Leonia on their way to and from the George Washington Bridge during the morning and evening commutes. Violators will face a $200 fine.
But some Englewood residents say that their homes are on the border of Englewood and Leonia and that they are barred from traveling down their own streets.
Englewood resident Angelina Rivera lives on Ridgeland Terrace and says that she couldn't make a right turn off her street. She says that when she asked the Leonia police officer blocking the road about it, she was told she had to make a U-turn.
And she wasn’t the only one who faced a problem.
"I use CVS, I use the dry cleaners. My bank is there. The post office is there,” says Englewood resident Maggie Lic. “Not because it's in Leonia; because it's so close. We are basically Leonia."
Englewood Mayor Frank Huttle tells News 12 New Jersey that he has heard his residents’ complaints and found a solution with the Leonia mayor.
He says that Leonia police officers have been instructed to allow Englewood residents to travel through town to complete their local business.
“The resident merely has to say ‘I'm from Englewood,’” Huttle says.
Unlike Leonia residents they won't need yellow tags.
The Leonia road restrictions are in effect weekdays from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.