“Detroit Gets High-Tech Parking Meters”

[erik_kosberg]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._te/new_meters

The FARK.com take on this: “Detroit fits ridiculously-complex $7,000 parking meters to its pothole-strewn, blood-soaked streets”

[Redlass]

*sigh* Just a quick comment before I go off to read the story (in part 'cause I keep getting a "cannot be displayed" error when I click on the link):

As long as there is heavy industry in Michigan, the roads will have potholes. We send people out to fix them but they are going to come back every year because we have (to oversimplify things) really heavy trucks driving over our roads in weather that forces the cement to expand and contract with wild unpredictability. So yes, every spring, we're going to have lots of potholes. People typically remember that the potholes were there and ignore the fact that no one given pothole typically is around for more than a year before it is fixed. It just gets replaced with others.

Second, to call Detroit's streets blood-soaked exaggerates rather horribly.

[erik_kosberg]

Yeah, FARK is a bit over-the-top sometimes and Mpls has its share of potholes too. And although I’ve been in Michigan, I’ve never been to Detroit. Gotta admit that my mental image of it comes from EZ Streets.

[Redlass]

And I'll confess I'm slightly oversensitive 'cause I grew up in a suburb of Detroit. I've actually spent a fair amount of time in the city and typically have had good experiences. It's very sad to see the multitude of abandoned office buildings, but there are still plenty of things to do and see that make it an interesting town.

Complaining about potholes is almost a state-wide sport here. Yet, I'd rather have the potholes than lose all the industry.

[hadassahchana[$]]

I was prepared to be morally outraged at the price tag of the meters, until I read the article and found out what kind of parking meters they mentioned:

The city is testing two types of units. The first is a park-and-display version popular in France, where a driver deposits money and the machine prints a receipt with the expiration time. The receipt goes on the dashboard for the meter reader to see.

This is the kind we have in Ontario. They work well- nothing to jam, easy to buy the correct amount of time. Therefore, I was somewhat startled to see this:

Karen Zarza was lucky she had her 10-year-old son, Joshua, with her when she parked near the federal courthouse. He figured it out in a snap.


Zarza said she stared at the silver box and didn't know what to do. "I think they're silly," she said. "I like the old ones. I'm old-fashioned, I guess."

These aren't hard to use, even for someone recovering from a closed-head injury (like me). There is a slot for money. It says "coins" and has a p;icture of coins for those who cannot read. At the bottom is another slot. The ticket comes out there. Coins will only fit into the coin slot. It is idiot proof.

Cindy

[erik_kosberg]

True pseudo-confession-query, now that the statute of limitations has been exceeded, anyone here ever use the popsicle stick method on old-fashioned parking meters?

“Small town, not much to do in the evening.”
– Cool Hand Luke

[wivabef]

erik_kosberg said

True pseudo-confession-query, now that the statute of limitations has been exceeded, anyone here ever use the popsicle stick method on old-fashioned parking meters?

“Small town, not much to do in the evening.”
– Cool Hand Luke

Nope. Never been that cheap.