Installation is moving along nicely, according to Steven Auerbach, the city’s indomitable purveyor of smart parking meters with a few tweaks remaining like those fronting the People’s United Bank headquarters on Main Street requiring a cherrypicker for short people. Mayor Joe Ganim stands 5’6″ tall. The instructional digital readout of the meters above would escape him.
I stand 5’9″ and had to giraffe my neck to view the instruction panel for coinage. Now think about someone, male or female, who stands 5’4″ inches tall, roughly the vantage point, in the above captioned image. You park your car, you get out of car, you pull out your change or credit card and lo and behold … you must jump back into your vehicle to find a meter that accommodates your size. Hmmm.
When I contacted Auerbach and explained this situation his knee-jerk response was, “With all the things going on in Bridgeport this is all you and (CT Post reporter) Brian Lockhart can write about?”
Steve, isn’t the point with all the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dough that’s been invested into the rollout of these parking meters, to finally get it right rather than meow, meow, meow?
To Steve’s credit, after assuring me I was wrong, he checked it out and declared yes, it’s not the correct height and it will be corrected, all to ADA compliance.
Let’s hope so.
Want some whine with those Tender Vittles?
Does Steve inspect the installation or just assumes that it will be done right???
And this is after all of the problems with the first go round.
This is why you don’t have a boy do a man’s job.
*** If you can reach the coin slot your good to go, no? Next it will be that the writing on the buttons are too small to see clearly, etc… I like these new meters, their much better than the last new meters, However the best meters are the ones you can get left over minute’s credit if the prior vehicle that was parked there leaves early before all their parking meter’s time was up! That’s what I call lucky community parking meters that help to give back a little, instead of sucking visitor’s chump-change dry to the bone, no?***
http://www.tzr.io/yarn-clip/6cfe1e50-8fe4-4bf6-80d7-3048dd575222
Steve,what else is going on in Bpt?,other than crime increasing,Exact capital failing to get funding for Joe’s big development plan for the downtown theaters,and one of the oldest bpt buisnesses leaving town the first chance they got?(Sorrento’s)..Tell us Steve,what is is going on?
Harvey, I will continue to shop at Sorrento’s in Fairfield. They have the best cold cuts , olives and fresh meats. Not to mention great customer service. Whats happening in Bridgeport ? Ask Bob Walsh- He is still upset that Steelepointe started. So upset he moved to Branford to get away from the city. The truth is- you can never really leave Bridgeport. It is like an addiction.
L’shana Tova Harvey- Happy Sweet New years to
you and all of OIB – I am not going to engage on any Bridgeport bashing. It drains me and doesn’t interest me. Stay positive it is better for your health.
On a sad note- Let us all wish Maria Pereira well after her unfortunate clash with the police. I think her foes will use this against her in an upcoming election. The good news, Maria certainly has her fan club and she is a fighter. She will in fact spin this to her benefit. I think this will remain out of the papers.
Steve,
Your foes will throw food.
Steve
There are some on this blog who want, no make that demand, better for Bridgeport. Then there are people who take what they can get and praise the city for doing an inferior job.
You can figure out which one you are.
Oh Stevie
You must be very happy that the news of Maria’s arrest some how came out. I hope your happy.
Steve,
Happy that Lennie ran this article. I picked up the card with the info about the recently installed meters. They are “new” to us, but have been available in other cities like new Haven for many years now.
Couple questions that you are likely read in on:
1. Per statement from Mojo above, when you leave these meters having booked one hour of meter time, and there is still 30 minutes on the meter, doesn’t the next person to park there get to use whatever is remaining? The meter continues with a green light rather than red??
2. Parking tickets for failure to have sufficient funds in the meter will be issued on the “new meters” but it will only be done by City employees with that duty? Thus the photo connection of the removed meters is absent. Does that change assumptions on the budget projections either from increasing expense for meter monitoring or assumptions that some percentage of meter beaters will go unknown?
3. The new meters have an electronic communications component that facilitates credit card payments and mobile apps. When a meter goes from green to red, does it communicate that status to anyone who then is dispatched to apply a ticket? The card does not provide this info.
The card is easy to read and understand. Better than the last rodeo, it appears. What is the budgeted expense for this round of photo – meter removal and replacement? And from which department budget? Time will tell.
JML- Mojo- I did feel required to share this with JML item 2- You may in fact be lucky for a week or 2 to have the ability to get the previous Persons time left on the meter. That however, is temporary as the IPS company is testing the sensitivity of the sensors. When the testing is complete all meters will be zeroed out. So if you put 2 dollars in the meter and only spend 10 minutes in a store. When you move your car and another car takes your space, they MUST FEED THE METER. But you may be the lucky one to get free parking temporarily!
JML- You have to feed the meter. When you leave your parking space, Time is NOT transferred to the next vehicle. You can find anyone else to answer your specific questions. yOU CAN PUT IN A FOI REQUEST AND I AM SURE SOMEONE WILL EVENTUALLY GET BACK TO YOU. NOT GOING TO ENGAGE ON THIS BLOG ANY ASPECT OF MY JOB .
BOB WALSH,
I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT FIND IT FUNNY THAT MARIA PEREIRRA WAS AREESTED. I AM SHOCKED AND TOTALLY DUMBFOUNDED. YOU CAN SAY WHAT YOU WANT ABOUT MARIA PEREIRRA BUT UNLIKE JML AND YOURSELF SHE DOES ACCOMPLISH “STUFF” YOU ARE JUST NOISE AND ANNOYING. TO EVEN WASTE MY TIME ON A BREAK TO ADDRESS YOU IS A JOKE AND YES I AM A FOOL. YOU WILL NOT FIND ME RESPONDING TO INDIVIDUALS ON THIS BLOG, HOWEVER TO BE CLEAR, I DO THINK THIS WAS A NEWSWORTHY ITEM AND CERTAINLY MORE NEWSWORTHY THAN THE METERS WHICH SEEM TO BE VERY WELL RECEIVED UNLESS OF COURSE IF YOU READ THE BLOG .
If anyone is tuning in to see if I responded to any comments by Walsh or JML – Don’t- you will be disappointed. It is a New Year for me and I do not get caught up is black clouds of misery and hate. You are like cancer. Nothing more to say on that!
Happy New Year,Steven Auerbach. There still are some things that go beyond OIB,politics etc. I am a Roman Catholic and we have our holidays/holy days.
Thank you Frank Gyure. I appreciate that!
Steve, Thank you for what you failed to answer, but I am disappointed in not sharing what you failed to address. You told me to look it up, essentially. Isn’t that a little “Black cloud of misery and hate”? Seeing as how you get paid for your work and time and I pursue my questions with no compensation, share them with the entire readership and deal with half responses like yours or worse from folks who cover up.
I have said it frequently in recent days, but “Secrecy and accountability cannot co-exist.” You like secrets. So does this administration, while accountability is called for. I happen to be wearing a button and will do so for the next two months as a reminder to others whom I meet: DEFEAT HATE VOTE.
We see in every election cycle the large number of registered voters who stay away from the polls and complain about what happens to them in between elections. We see hate at work, and secrecy keeps people from learning enough to rebel too often. That is the cancer that affects Bridgeport. How about bearing some light and truth for a change? Time will tell.
I have a simple answer. For myself,I have no need to go to Downtown Bridgeport. SO,I DON’T GO.
“You can find anyone else to answer your specific questions. yOU CAN PUT IN A FOI REQUEST AND I AM SURE SOMEONE WILL EVENTUALLY GET BACK TO YOU.”
Steve, is this information on the City web site or must we check your Facebook page?
p.s. Your comment was inappropriate for a city employee addressing a taxpayer.