Comments on Advance Indiana™: Indianapolis May Privatize Parking Meters To Raise Revenues

Inspector General Rips Parking Meter Deal In Repor...

2009-07-12T15:31:23.206-05:00

Inspector General Rips Parking Meter Deal In Report:

City Could Have Gotten Nearly $1 Billion More

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/02/inspector-general-rips-pa_n_210327.html

I have a friend who needs and uses a handicapped p...

2009-07-12T12:00:26.259-05:00

I have a friend who needs and uses a handicapped parking place. She can never find a vacant handicapped space around the city county building as they are always filled with police cars.

How about ticketing the cars that park three dip i...

2009-07-11T23:00:20.296-05:00

How about ticketing the cars that park three dip in from of the Columbia Club? That should be a steady revenue source. Several of them seem to have state government plates on them. Guess that means you can park in the middle of the street.

Those parking fees won't be paid by the out-of...

2009-07-11T20:17:16.855-05:00

Those parking fees won't be paid by the out-of-town conventioners who enjoy the downtown amenities. They will be paid by local workers and residents. They should be concerned. Parking is one of the reasons many businesses have relocated offices outside the downtown area.

Can somebody explain the economics behind this? H...

2009-07-11T20:04:26.416-05:00

Can somebody explain the economics behind this? How can you say you want to lure people downtown while raising the cost of actually doing so? Do they think they they can quarter and dollar patrons, and the events they attend will be so appealing, they'll just eat it?

Parking meter fee waiver from 2005 Parking meter ...

2009-07-11T14:54:10.575-05:00

Parking meter fee waiver from 2005

Parking meter fee waiver from 2009

There appears to be a flat $15/day fee for each bagged meter. However the Board of Public Works appears to waive this fee quite liberally. $9725 was forgiven for blocking the spaces around the weekly Farmers' Market.

I included the first link from 2005 because it referenced the Arts Council. Another one of their perks - free parking when they want it.

Or who decides that all of those parking spaces al...

2009-07-11T13:56:49.952-05:00

Or who decides that all of those parking spaces along Illinois Street become the property of those select restaurants and their patrons who drive Mercedes, Bentleys, etc.?

What about places of business that are able to bag...

2009-07-11T13:18:38.492-05:00

What about places of business that are able to bag meters for valet parking? Do they pay the city a fee for that....i.e. Murat Shrine, Ruth Chris' Steak House ....and many others

Gary, The meters were bagged a day and a half ear...

2009-07-11T10:21:50.472-05:00

Gary,

The meters were bagged a day and a half early for the 4th of July Fireworks to take place on Saturday of that week (until it got rained out.) As I noted in my blog, about 500 meters were bagged on the previous Thursday. Some said "No Parking Today." Some said "No Parking Saturday."

On Friday, July 3rd, I saw Denison people writing tickets for one car after another that parked at the bagged meters and had not fed the meters. It's obvious the people were confused about feeding the meter when the event was the next day but the meter had a sign draped over it. So I don't know about the business owners on Mass Ave advising them not to feed the meter when they're bagged way in advance of the event.

On Delaware Street, just across from the City Market where my law office is located, we had meters bagged for two weeks earlier this year. There was no work going on. No one had any idea why they had bagged the meters. Since the placard fiasco where the Star outed many city/county workers, this has been going on. The blocks that are bagged move around periodically. My suspicions are that they're using them to make up for some of the lost placard spots.

As far as the long term contract for the meters, I have preached about this until I'm blue in the face. Handing a vendor a long term contract to provide a service is not privatization. It is monopolization. Monopolization does not protect the people who work, live and visit downtown.

Let's see, we privatized the water company and...

2009-07-11T09:55:35.532-05:00

Let's see, we privatized the water company and rates have gone through the roof.

We privatized the Toll Road and rates doubled.

Yeah, this meter thing sounds like a great idea.