Parking Meter Sensors
You might have noticed the crew working in the parking spaces on Main Street this week. It's a company from California that is installing in-ground sensors that will "talk" to the new credit card meters. If they work as advertised, the sensors will tell the meter when a car enters or leaves a parking space. In theory, this could lead to more customer-friendly parking policies, like the recently announced plan to put 10-free minutes on the meter when a new car arrives in a space.
Eagle-eye citizens may notice that the sensors also reset the meter to zero when a car leaves a space with time still on the clock -- that extra income was anticipated by the department as a way to cover the cost of the new credit card meters, which charge the city a percentage on every CC transaction. Although the credit card meters have mostly been a hit with Main Street visitors, the arrival of these sensors means the end of the era when you might pull into a space and find someone else had left you free time!
As a member of the parking committee, I'm excited about the sensors as a way to analyze how our spaces are actually used (it gathers the typical data of a parking study, without the big-ticket consultant!) I'd like to see us use these sensors to make parking policies that are more customer-friendly while still paying our bills - it seems like these sensors should help us tell the difference between the person who parks all day on Main Street past the 3-hour time limit from the person whose meter just ran out!
Sort Your Trash
Main Street will soon have 10 new recycling containers for cans and bottles. The grant-funded containers have been painted by an artist - there will be an opening display of the containers at an event on the South Green on October 15th. Here's a sneak peek at the just-painted cans:
Apparently, some high-tech solar trash compactors are coming soon to the North End of Main Street, and these colorful receptacles will just live South of Washington Street.
Park Your Bike, Too!
Plans are in the works to put bike racks in the neighborhood of Klekolo World Coffee on Court Street. Considering the fact that Middletown had zero bike racks just a few years ago, and now we have them in nearly every block of Main Street, we are making real progress towards becoming a bike-friendly city. We're lucky to have generous local businesses who are paying for the racks, and a cooperative city Public Works Department doing the installation. Nice work, Middletown!
6 comments:
Does anyone know how much the parking sensors cost. I wonder if these are the kind that alert the police when an overtime or other violation occurs so an officer can rush to the spot and slap a ticket on the offender.
Massapequa Park NY is installing such a system on a trial basis.
See: http://cbsloc.al/qwEEv6
Hi John,
Gosh, if you put it like that! Yes, the sensors can send a text to a parking attendant (it's not the police in Middletown - it's the parking department) and tell them which spaces have overtime cars in them. The up side is that the attendant should be able to tell the difference between a meter that just expired - and was only there a short while - from the person who is violating the 3-hour limit.
It's the only way we can control employees who park in front of their offices and stores all day - without the sensors, the attendants don't have any way to keep track of cars that stay too long.
If you're wondering why I think that's a good thing, well I think that turning over Main Street spaces (with some reasonable customer-friendly policies at the beginning and end of their stay) is better for our downtown than using Main Street for long-term parking.
By the way, I think the parking sensors cost about $150 each - a good investment if it cuts down on the number of hours we need to have attendants walking up and down eyeballing meters and trying to figure out how long a car has been there.
Which is why I shop at the malls.
....and which is why your home property taxes went up so much over the past 20 years!
Jen, I'm dissappointed that you think these new parking sensors are customer friendly...reading your excitement over these sensors makes me think that you have been a little brainwashed. What the sensors will end up doing is they will make the parking attendants and the parking department a little more rabid than they already are. If the real problem is a few people who violate the 3hr. rule, wouldn't it make more sense to deal with them than bringing out the big guns? You are using an uzi to shoot at flies instead of a fly swatter!!!
And while I'm at it, has it never made your day when you have pulled into a parking spot and found that you got and extra 20 free minutes? Gone will be our our days of simple pleasures. Have those republicans gotten to you too?;)
Whew - did somebody turn up the heat in here?
Ok, I didn't say the sensors were customer-friendly. I said they opened up the possibility of creating more customer-friendly policies - your analogy of the uzi actually applies to the way we do things now - pepper everyone with the same $10 ticket, whether that person just pulled in and is just trying to find change in a nearby store, or whether that person's car has been there without feeding the meter for hours.
In my own defense, I should point out that I've been working for *years* on trying to get better parking policies in Middletown, and I've lost more than a few battles. For example, I think our current rates are too high - we should only raise enough money to pay for the maintenance and operation of a quality parking system (and yes, we do need a system to balance the needs of customers, employees and residents.) Instead, the parking meters put $450,000 back into the general fund each year to support schools, cops, etc. I think that's short-sighted. I think cheaper (and better) parking options would stimulate business. But I couldn't get the Common Council, the parking department or just about anyone else to agree with me. (Ok, not true - Vinnie Amato not only agreed with me, he gave me a really hard time when I caved....er...I mean, compromised!)
So considering where we are, yes, I think these sensors are an improvement. If we manage it right (and believe me, I know what a tenuous wish that is) we can use them to make customers, overall, happier. For example, the sensors (if they work) will allow the upcoming system of putting 10 free minutes on your meter EVERY time you park, not just when you get lucky. How 'bout a little love for that?
(p.s. I'm sure that little bit of bravado will come back to bite me if those sensors don't do the job they are supposed to....can't get that new parking director a moment too soon...)
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