We’ve got a bit of righteous indignation in the air at our house tonight.
What do you think the policy is, what do you think the policy should be, about the city shoveling out parking meters? What should the policy be about meters that aren’t physically accessible?
Hello,On Monday January 25 I parked in the Newton Center parking lot. I spaced out for few minutes listening to the radio. Then I was startled when a tall lanky woman started mountaineering up the pile of snow by my parking meter. She got to the top, glared at me and descended and stared in my window. This really creeper me out. I took out four quarters, as I had no idea how much I would need for a half hour. However, I am not a tall lanky woman. I am 63 years old and have an inside leg measurement of 23 inches. I am as fit as a person who has had open heart surgery and since then has had 5 stents in two years. I can walk 10 thousand steps a day, and have a fit bit. What I cannot do is climb a pile of snow without falling, even with spikes on the soles of my shoes. I know this to be true because I tried and failed. I took a picture and hopefully I will succeed in attaching it to this email. I went to All Newton Music store on Beacon street to collect my 13 year old from her voice lesson. When I returned, I had a ticket. #354299385.Sincerely
Marie Jackson.
If the city wants to collect the revenue, it should make them accessible. It should be a judgment call for the meter cops though, so that folks don’t abuse the excuse all winter.
I do not that in most parallel locations it is easy to get to the meters. the lots are a different story.
the other option is for the person who got the ticket to challenge it and be granted a pass if due to snow blockage.
This is ridiculous. If you need to be in mountaineering shape to get to the meter, then you shouldn’t have to pay.
And it’s certainly cheaper for the city to forego the meter revenue than to pay the medical bills when someone’s injured trying to avoid getting a ticket.
No question she should contest the ticket, and will probably get it dismissed. So, I agree the city should clear them or give up on ticketing.
This problem (and a couple others) could be solved with pay stations.
Amen, Adam.
I find this situation terribly annoying. Why should this woman have to go to the trouble of contesting the ticket? That doesn’t solve the problem at all. It’s ridiculous for the city to ticket cars when the meter is inaccessible. I’ve had several experiences similar to this one. In Newton Center right I parked beside the parking lot across from the drug store. The meter looked the same as the one above. There was no way that I was going to try to climb that mound of snow. I walked down the street to the opening of the parking lot where I tried to access the sidewalk but it had not been cleared either. It matters not your age or physical shape, this practice is ridiculous.
No cleared meter should mean free parking. The city should get their act together. Clear the meters and the sidewalks or lose the revenue.
I would love to see smart meters and parking stations all over Newton. But that is a solution for tomorrow. We need a solution for now.
@City Councilors: is this your bailiwick? Can you docket an item that eliminates tickets at snow covered meters? The ticket givers could, instead, notify DPW to inform them that certain meters need to be cleared. If the Meter Maids and DPW coordinated, the meters would likely become accessible sooner!
In any event, reason should prevail and the present practice is patently unreasonable!
This is not a new problem. Clearing would have to be done by hand, and in many cases, there probably isn’t anywhere to even put the snow. I think it’s well worth looking ahead. Why not look to try out pay stations next winter? The city would probably save a ton on maintenance, people wouldn’t have to worry about having change (who carries change anymore) and it might even make enforcement easier. I’d say offer pay by phone, too, but I don’t carry one, and it seems like an awkward solution unless you use the parking often.
The very idea that we still have to use quarters to pay for parking is unbelievable.
No matter what you do for next winter…stop ticketing anyone parked at an inaccessible meter TODAY!!!!! Common sense, please.
@Sallee Lipshutz – totally agree. Independent of any future parking plans, this issue with today’s meters can be solved today with a simple policy – i.e. don’t write tickets for inaccessible meters.
I realize this isn’t the point of the thread but who was the “tall lanky woman”? I thought it was going to end up being parking enforcement. She doesn’t seem to be part of the cause of the ticket. Maybe an omen of some kind — if you see the lanky mountaineer, a parking ticket will soon be there.
Jerry, knowing how our city functions, I worry that defining “inaccessible meters” may take longer than just ordering the new system.
And the pay stations still need to be shoveled. If not, we’ll have the same problem.
Pay stations suck! Putting pay stations in the Newton Centre lot would be a big mistake. The lot is already a nightmare for pedestrians to navigate. Creating even more foot traffic in that lot by using pay stations, would literally be an accident waiting to happen.
The term ‘Meter Maid’ by a number of those performing the task feel it as being derogatory and offensive; preferring instead ‘parking enforcement official’. – on that, understanding that many are also school crossing guards, having the posts as priority. Parking enforcement in each village demands a coordinated assignment & coverage; knowing which personally in each village creates windows of free parking at meters for attentive citizens.
Why do they wear dark official like demonic apparel instigating & infuriating the lucky recipient of their blessed task? – (municipalities in the mid-west don bright non-offensive apparel which changes the mindset & community interaction).
Community policing is more than just them & us, it’s who they are and why they do that which they do.
Boston has app’s which lets the meter rate payer know that the time is going to expire with online time renewal operation. Consideration for Newton: additional revenue could be along the line of GPS on-duty tracking subscription for its’ parking enforcement vehicles. By subscription that service could serve to integrate community attentiveness, courtesy, and revenue.
I wasn’t thinking about pay stations in one place that you walk to, pay for your parking with cash to get a ticket and then walk back your car to put the ticket on your windshield. They are annoying and dangerous.
I was referring to parking stations which are smart meters but are four parking spaces not one. They take a credit card, cash, or payment by smartphone. You can choose to get alerts on your phone when time is running out on the meter with the option of paying for additional time up to a certain amount. Of course the new Newton Centre parking study suggested doing away with most time limits used for ticketing purposes.
The fact remains that RIGHT NOW parking meters surrounded by snow should be considered free parking.
The term meter maids has gone the way of other maidenly terms and I haven’t used it in years. I don’t think the new name Harry posted is a good one because it is too hard to remember.
Marti, that is fine for a parking lot, but impractical for parallel parking on a street, whereas a kiosk where you can pay and slip the ticket onto your dashboard works best on the street if snow removal and accessibility is an issue. All you have to dig out is the kiosk and no mountaineering on snowbanks is required. I like the meters that accept credit cards and smart phone payments, but they still have to be accessible to people who do not want/are not able to pay with their phones.
The places I use the meters I described, which do accept cash in addition to the other two, are for head end parking on city streets as well as for parallel parking. I don’t like the pay stations in lots, garages or on street parking. They require too much wondering around in traffic. If the snow isn’t cleared around the meters, the meters are not accessible on the sidewalk either, in my experience, which means walking in the street. Pay stations would require walking in the street to get the ticket and walking back. It’s dangerous particularly when the street is narrowed because of the snow.
Instead of concentrating on an uncertain future, the present ticketing problem needs to be solved.
Wandering while wondering about safety.
Marti, kiosks and tickets work well in a lot of places and should not be dismissed out of hand. Portland, ME, where I go frequently, has them and it works very well on both broad and narrow streets, and I do not recall ever reading about an accident involving someone having to walk to the driver side of their car to place the ticket on the dashboard. Thinking it through, you have to get out of your car on the driver side and either pay the meter or go to the kiosk anyway. If the sidewalks are not clear of snow, it is a safety issue regardless.
Then there is the cost. Those meters that accept credit cards and smartphone payments are more expensive than either the coin meters or the kiosks and require maintenance like any other meter. Cost wise, the kiosk and ticket might well be the way to go and is much less costly than installing meters for every space. In any event, we should keep our options and our minds open to all of the alternatives and do what makes the most sense.
Appeal the ticket-you will win.
It may have been archaic…but, then, so am I. At least I capitalized it to give it the respect it might deserve. No offense meant. How’s Meter Timers? Meter Readers? Meter Watchers? Meter Officials? Time Limit Officers? Ticket People? Harry’s label does seem a bit long!
By the way, Harry, I’ve been reading your comments so often that last night at a LWVN consensus meeting, I mistakenly invoked your name instead of Bernie’s when referring to “Sanders or Trump”!
Doug…it’s unreasonable to put that burden on the public! Simply don’t ticket inaccessible meters!
Sallee – I totally agree that a directive needs to be issued by the Police Chief telling meter maids no ticketing if the meter is inaccessible – common sense. Nevertheless, the ticket should be appealed. Maybe The Newton Chamber under Greg’s leadership can take the lead on this.
The Coolidge Corner parking lot has a system where the spaces are numbered. You walk to the parking station, enter your space number, then pay for the amount of time you need. Eliminates having to walk back to your car, which is a big plus.
Just remember that you still need to do enough snow clearing to allow people to get to the pay stations.
The pay stations I used in Portland were great. You paid the fee often times faster than finding the change. Then stuck a sticky note type receipt inside the window facing the sidewalk (usually the passenger one). No lines on the street so if lots of small cars were parking there were more spaces.
Ted, Portland, ME is one of my favorite places and I’ve used their pay stations but your not having heard of accidents during winter doesn’t mean that in winter they are safe. For one thing, Portland does a much better job than Newton clearing their sidewalks.
The sidewalk along the parking lot on Langley is not cleared well during the winter along with the parking meters. It is already a narrow one way street but in winter the snow on both sides creates a much more narrow road. It’s hard enough to get out of your car but walking in the street back and forth is an accident waiting to happen, particularly with multiple passengers, seniors and children.
Pay stations in lots and garages work well if the lanes for cars are wide such as in the lot at Coolidge Corner and the garage in Waltham but the lot in Newton Centre has narrow lanes. Of course in lots and garages getting a ticket when you enter and paying when you leave is a much safer way.
But still this is speculation for the future, whereas the problem needs to be solved now.