Parking Ticket Question

[jacobi]

Could the only catalyst we need simply be the elimination of metered city parking?

Well as long as we had some way to eliminate the situation where the guy who works in the office blocks you from parking in front of Mod's Or elote, Or the suchi place.  It might work, but it also might turn into a race to see who can get downtown first.  Maybe it will spark new breakfast places. 

[Townsend]

Well as long as we had some way to eliminate the situation where the guy who works in the office blocks you from parking in front of Mod's Or elote, Or the suchi place.  It might work, but it also might turn into a race to see who can get downtown first.  Maybe it will spark new breakfast places. 

Start shutting down the outside lanes of the 4 lane DT streets and make it angled parking.  That'd help.

I do believe that pay-for-parking lots DT should go away.  Especially in the condition they are allowed to be.

[AquaMan]

Well as long as we had some way to eliminate the situation where the guy who works in the office blocks you from parking in front of Mod's Or elote, Or the suchi place.  It might work, but it also might turn into a race to see who can get downtown first.  Maybe it will spark new breakfast places.  

There are solutions to that. Don't allow any parking at all in front of restaurants in the heart of downtown. It not only would open up the area for open air dining but would be safer. Nearby lots could absorb the parking and could be subsidized by the restaurant. Include passage on the dedicated shuttle running around downtown and you increase the numbers visiting the restaurant. They just get their ticket punched at the restaurant.

That lovely hotel by the Atlas building doesn't allow parking out front do they? They have doormen waving people along and I suppose parking their cars.

There would have to be several rule changes.

[nathanm]

I have a real hatred for parking meters.

Why? You puts in your money, and you don't get a ticket. I guess it is more than a small pain if you are out of change.

Edited to add: Not-quite-personal experience tells me that they won't issue a bench warrant for a single outstanding ticket no longer how long it goes (well, at least up to 4 years, at this point). They just pay some law firm in San Antonio to send letters every once in a while. If you get another and don't pay it, I think that's when they start booting and/or towing.

I like Fayetteville's method better. They send you a bill for all your outstanding tickets after a few months and give you an opportunity to send them a check for all of them at once before they apply the late fees. Last time I was ticketed there it was $3. I think it's up to $5 now, with a $20 penalty for each over four in a month. I used to get lots of tickets there. It was just a cost of doing business. I probably would have cared more had I actually had to keep track of each ticket myself, instead it was just another quarterly bill, like the trash bill.

[dbacks fan]

Why? You puts in your money, and you don't get a ticket. I guess it is more than a small pain if you are out of change.

Better yet, install solar powered meters that take plastic as well as coins and could be enhanced so that you could add time from a smart phone.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/06/03/20110603tempe-parking-meters-plastic.html

[Red Arrow]

I paid $4 for a 1hr parking meter in Pittsburgh to attend a meeting last year.  

Did you write it off as a business expense?

[Red Arrow]

Better yet,... and could be enhanced so that you could add time from a smart phone.

Adding time goes against the premise of promoting parking turn over for local businesses.

[nathanm]

Adding time goes against the premise of promoting parking turn over for local businesses.

At most meters, I believe the max time is 2 hours. Nothing wrong with finding that you estimated wrongly and your business will take an hour instead instead of half an hour and being able to add time up to the limit from your phone. If it allowed you to beat the time limit somehow, that would be a problem.

[dbacks fan]

Adding time goes against the premise of promoting parking turn over for local businesses.

Right now, with coin-op meters, you can concievably feed the thing all day and keep your space (as long as parking enforcement doesn't notice), and yes I've done it in the past, at least with a smart meter you could enforce the time limit in a couple of ways and prevent meter feeding.

[Red Arrow]

Well as long as we had some way to eliminate the situation where the guy who works in the office blocks you from parking in front of Mod's Or elote, Or the suchi place. 

There could still be time limited parking.  A parking enforcing person would chalk mark the tread of parked cars' tires.  The enforcer's route would be such that the next time around he/she could determine cars parked over the time limit and ticket them.  Local businesses benefiting from limited time parking could subsidize the enforcer's pay.  

I do not claim originality on this.  The town (back east) where I went to college did the chalk mark thing. It was not so much for businesses but to keep resident students, who weren't supposed to have cars, from clogging the local streets.  Local residents had window stickers that exempted them from the limit as I remember.

[Red Arrow]

Right now, with coin-op meters, you can concievably feed the thing all day and keep your space (as long as parking enforcement doesn't notice), and yes I've done it in the past, at least with a smart meter you could enforce the time limit in a couple of ways and prevent meter feeding.

Plugging the meter, a time honored tradition.  TJC (1970s) students downtown did it all the time.  Run to your parking spot after class, plug the meter, and then run back to your next class.

[Red Arrow]

At most meters, I believe the max time is 2 hours. Nothing wrong with finding that you estimated wrongly and your business will take an hour instead instead of half an hour and being able to add time up to the limit from your phone. If it allowed you to beat the time limit somehow, that would be a problem.

My phone cannot transfer money to anything.  I still even pay my phone bill using a check.  I expect some day I will have to join the 21st Century but not yet.

Edit:  I don't know about the 2 hours.  I don't go downtown until after hours.

[custosnox]

There could still be time limited parking.  A parking enforcing person would chalk mark the tread of parked cars' tires.  The enforcer's route would be such that the next time around he/she could determine cars parked over the time limit and ticket them.  Local businesses benefiting from limited time parking could subsidize the enforcer's pay.  

I do not claim originality on this.  The town (back east) where I went to college did the chalk mark thing. It was not so much for businesses but to keep resident students, who weren't supposed to have cars, from clogging the local streets.  Local residents had window stickers that exempted them from the limit as I remember.

They chalk the tires here as well.  I have wiped those marks off of my tires many times.  My biggest problem with the time limit is that the only other choice is to feed the parking lots money, which I refuse to do unless doing so can cost them money somehow.

[Teatownclown]

Went to Juniper then over to Fassler, but got a tickie from the lot owners....I must have parked there 30 times without incident. Oh well, stick to the suburbs.

[jacobi]

Private lot tickets have no teeth.  Next time park on the street.  It's free after 5.