HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/12/2024 Item 7b, Schmidt
Richard Schmidt <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Recent parking policy changes
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Dear Council,
It is truly amazing that the council should be asked by staff under a meeting item titled
"SUBJECT: DOWNTOWN PARKING TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP REPORT"
to get into mucking around -- with no notice to neighborhoods -- with the neighborhood permit parking program's
functioning. Did it occur to anyone that this might be a problem? That those affected had no idea they were on the menu?
That they were being left out of the discussion?
I am particularly concerned with the following, which according to the council recap just circulated, was approved by the
council:
"The City should digitize the residential parking permits to allow
for plate-based enforcement utilizing LPR technology and a
digitally managed permit program."
Exactly how would this work? One of the big problems with the city's residential permit program is that it makes normal
neighborhood life (friends and caretakers visiting, plumbers, gardeners, etc.) next to impossible. Many residents have an
extra permit specifically to make some of those visits possible.
If this permit program switches from a mirror hanger to a license plate recognition digital permit system, how exactly can
neighborhood residents have visitors? How can our lives incorporate any friendly spontaneity?
Like so much in our parking program, the thinking underlying this idea is ill-considered. That the program's technophilia is
ridiculous is indicated by the millions of $$ the city is now going to spend to undo the recent tech changes and undertake
yet another round of tech changes. The old pre-tech parking system with meters worked, so why this huge unnecessary
waste of public money to promote unnecessary, and ultimately annoying, technology? What ever happened to the
council's use of the word "No" when staff brings something kinky to them for approval?
Oh, and I'll point out to the council once again that the Chinatown parking garage pay system is in total violation
of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Since my many efforts to point out this problem (as well as other ADA
problems) to both staff and council have resulted in zero change, maybe it's time I take this to the US Department of
Justice, while we still have one.
Richard Schmidt
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