SCHENECTADY : City eyes new parking meters
Council panel backs proposal costing $130K
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The City Council may spend $130,000 on 20 new parking meters, as well as $12,000 a year just to operate them. The meters would each cover 10 to 15 spaces.
   But Councilwoman Leesa Perazzo expressed deep reservations at Monday’s committee meeting.
   “I’m in support of the meters, but I also think it’s a big chunk to bite off,” she said, worrying that the city might not want to commit an additional $12,000 to next year’s budget.
   City Engineer Chris Wallin argued that the city would see a 40 percent increase in revenue with the new meters, because unused minutes would not be available for the next car. Every driver would have to pay full price for their space, and no one would benefit from a broken meter.
   He said he felt he had also picked the best “strategic” locations for maximizing revenue: downtown State Street, Union Street and Clinton Street.
   City officials told the council that the meters would pay for themselves within two years.
   Councilwoman Denise Brucker said she was persuaded that 19 meters spread through the downtown would show the council whether the investment was worth it. (The 20th meter would be used for parts.)
   If revenue increases as projected, Wallin wants to replace hundreds more of the old-style meters with the new ones.
   Perazzo suggested starting with just five meters — at a yearly operational cost of $3,100.
   “My feeling is we’d be wiser to start smaller,” she said.
   But no one agreed with her, and she finally gave in.
   “That being said, if my colleagues are confident, I’m not going to hold it up,” she said.
   The council approved the purchase in committee. The final vote will be next Monday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
   The new meters would accept credit cards as well as coins and report to parking attendants when they needed to be emptied or fixed. Like many other cities, there would be one meter for every 10 to 15 parking spots, and each driver would receive a printed receipt to display on their dash. MORE EFFICIENT
   The 19 meters would replace 147 old-style meters. The system would be more efficient, freeing up parking attendants to spend more of their time writing tickets, rather than emptying meters.
   It would also prevent the most common argument against parking tickets: the receipt would show the exact time that the meter expired, preventing drivers from wrongly arguing that they were just a minute late returning to their car.
   The receipt would help parking attendants target their enforcement, too. They wouldn’t write a ticket until the driver was more than a couple of minutes late, they told the council.
   Drivers would get some other benefits. Their ticket would be good for any other spot monitored by the new meters, so they could drive from location to location without spending more money.
   “You can stop at Bombers, and then drive to Aperitivo, and your ticket is still good,” Wallin said. “You take your minutes with you.”
   The meters would run on solar power, using a basic black-and white LED screen that would cost $200 or less to replace if it was broken, Wallin said. He rejected other proposals because the meters included expensive equipment that could be easily vandalized.
   The proposed meters would also be coated with an anti-graffiti substance, making it easy to wash off spray paint, he said.
   And there would be far less chance of someone stealing the money. Parking attendants would be given keys to remove the safe inside the meter and replace it with an empty safe, but only the Finance Department would have the key to open the safe.
   Wallin said the meters would be a significant improvement over the current ones.
   If the City Council ever wanted to change the parking rates, it could do so with one phone call and a $100 fee. Currently, many of the city’s meters can’t be changed at all, and the rest can only be re calibrated by hand.
   “This is a calculator, whereas a parking meter is a rock,” Wallin said. “This is a different tool.”

Unbelievable.

They really are working hard to screw over anyone they can....  "every car has to pay"

The language I'd like to use to describe these inept morons...

Another dumb idea by the politicians. One of the biggest complaints about even entering the city is the lack of free parking so let's install more parking meters so fewer people will go downtown.  They should also double the amount that people have to put in the parking meters again too.

How many people are going to get a fine because they are used to the other parking meters one per parking spot.  If these are 8 cars away then this is going to hit a lot of people by suprise.  Also how would you know where toll parking begins and ends.  Money grab.  Making down town even more unfriendly.  

I have seen and used this type of system in other cities.  It really is not any more difficult than the existing system and it should end up costing the city LESS money because there would be fewer meters to maintain.

The days of free downtown parking are a thing of the past in most cities.  So it doesn't make sense to keep beating that dead horse issue.

This is literally one of the stupidest things I have heard from these dolts on the city council.

One quarter for a half hour of parking - now for YOUR car only, expires when you move it.

Ludicrous; stupid.

I will literally strive to do even less downtown as these dumb-ocrats are doing everything they can do disenfranchise taxpayers.

I thought we had seen this idiocy before and shot it down. Incredibly, here it is again.
NYC has problems with people getting tickets while they are away from their cars paying at the meter.
I agree with JackBauer, too much trouble to go downtown. BTW, in recent months when I had to go downtown to bring someone else to an appointment, I had some shopping I needed to do for some very basic items. I had to wait until later and drive out of the city to purchase a telephone and later a pair of sneakers. My time downtown was dead time. Where can you sit down, or even use a restroom?
Who will save us from this bunch of brain surgeons?

Quoted from JackBauer

Unbelievable. They really are working hard to screw over anyone they can....  "every car has to pay".
The language I'd like to use to describe these inept morons...

This is also termed DEM "working together" to screw the taxpayers. Don't follow leaders-pay your parking meter. When you go to the governmental gin mill {that has a never ending tax exemption} make sure to pay your meter. Everything this incompetent all DEM crew does chases away small businesses and discourages new home ownership. BTW, this is the same idiot that wants new sidewalk fees. Had enough-YET?

Don't follow leaders but read today's Gazetto editorial! But no one reads this board-lol. Another nit wit idea from McCheese and crew that only the Gazetto could support.
     Only in Schenectady-some "shopper" might find a meter with 2 minutes on it Downtown. This must be prevented at all costs.

This type of parking system is NOT new.  It is used in a number of other cities AND it is a lot less expensive to maintain because there are fewer parking meters (which need to be maintained and repaired) ----------- you folks make it sound like Schenectady is the only city with paid on-street parking. The proposed system works well and -- one of the best points -- if you finish with extra minutes in one spot .. you can use those unexpired minutes when you go to another spot downtown.   I find this very convenient when I am visiting cities with this type of system.

I will let you in on something that has been happening for at least 25 years  NATIONALLY if not around the world.   Cities not only charge for on-street parking .. the trend has been to actually ELIMINATE on-street parking to reduce traffic congestion and pollution by encouraging folks to car pool or use mass transit.

Paid parking is not going away -- and at least this administration is looking at a system that will cost the city less to maintain.   They deserve credit for this and NOT bashing.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

This type of parking system is NOT new.  It is used in a number of other cities AND it is a lot less expensive to maintain because there are fewer parking meters (which need to be maintained and repaired) ----------- you folks make it sound like Schenectady is the only city with paid on-street parking. The proposed system works well and -- one of the best points -- if you finish with extra minutes in one spot .. you can use those unexpired minutes when you go to another spot downtown.   I find this very convenient when I am visiting cities with this type of system.

I will let you in on something that has been happening for at least 25 years  NATIONALLY if not around the world.   Cities not only charge for on-street parking .. the trend has been to actually ELIMINATE on-street parking to reduce traffic congestion and pollution by encouraging folks to car pool or use mass transit.

Paid parking is not going away -- and at least this administration is looking at a system that will cost the city less to maintain.   They deserve credit for this and NOT bashing.

There you go, trying to make yourself out like you are some professional planner or engineer, posting about all these places you visit, explaining the purpose of paid parking (which is ONLY to pad the pockets of the politicians---you do NOT see any retail stores coming to downtown in exchange for people paying for parking).

And I'm sure you use "mass transit" to come into the city, right?  

What means of transportation do you use for your job.   Oh wait, you don't have a job do you.  

Talk to us when you get a job, support yourself, and live like a normal adult man



Very interesting how parking is FREE at the malls and shopping centers, lots of retail is open, the places with free parking are the places people to to shop, and those communities have a higher tax base and lower taxes.

Years ago when people actually shopped downtown there was free parking on any street. Including Jay St.

Quoted from Libertarian4life

Years ago when people actually shopped downtown there was free parking on any street. Including Jay St.

Years ago there were fewer cars, too --- and Dodgers played in Brooklyn.  You choose to live in the past and wish for the past to some how come back --- I choose to live in the present and prepare for the future.

Schenectady is Schenectady, and if the people don't want the new meters, and our old ones still function, there is no reason to change to anything,
because some idiot thinks it is the future. Spend all that money downtown, and then inconvenience those who might go there? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Is the trend toward paying for parking anywhere else? Of course not! We see more and more drive-through businesses.
I wish they would copy other cities that keep up the parks, pave the roads, plow the snow, replace broken pipes, do their real jobs.