Elected leaders say they have a “great game plan,” ranging from educating truck drivers to ticketing them, to resolve concerns over illegally parking big rigs on city streets.
Elected officials and Haverhill police met last week at Amazon’s North Andover warehouse to resolve concerns over private truckers parking in Ward Hill neighborhoods after going to or from the company. State Rep. Ryan M. Hamilton told WHAV the meeting at Amazon was a “step in the right direction.”
“We believe that once we inform these drivers of what they’re doing and not to go there—we’ve been told drivers talk, so once they know they can’t go there and know if they do they will get a $50 ticket, they will no longer go there. So, the information part and the education part is what we’re hoping does the trick and, if it doesn’t, well then they’re going to have to pay that $50 fine every time and that will get costly.”
Haverhill City Councilor Catherine P. Rogers raised the issue recently, speaking in favor of raising fines to $50 per incident.
“It could be overnight or a couple of days. Basically, Ward Hill has become a truck stop,” she said at the time. “They’ve been in Duffy’s. I know they’ve thrown them out. They’ve been in Dunkin’ Donuts along the connector. They’re sleeping there at night. They’ve been on Neck Road.”
Besides Hamilton, Rogers and representatives of Haverhill Police, those invited by Amazon were Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, a member of State Rep. Andy X. Vargas’ office, Councilors Shaun P. Toohey, Colin F. LePage and Ralph T. Basiliere.
Hamilton, who was a main driver in connecting officials with the company last month, said the company has been a good partner for the city.
“Since that time, we’ve not only had a tour but two Zoom meetings with them. Amazon is looking to be a good partner to the city of Haverhill. They really care, they want to work with the community. They don’t want their facility, by any means, to hinder or put any community members in harmful situations. They’ve been great to deal with,” he said.
Rogers told her colleagues last week she is pleased with the progress. “I thought it went well. They had five representatives from Amazon that came from around different places. I think we worked something out, a strategy where the police department sends pictures directly to them so we can target specific trucks so Amazon will be happy to talk to them and try to get them off of our streets,” she said.
She said Amazon is exploring purchasing property so trucks in process between facilities have a place to go. She added officials plan to follow up with Amazon in January.