The Seattle Times has a piece today about “Seattle’s confusing parking meters: Pay to 6 p.m., get towed at 3,” giving voice to outrage over the always unpopular parking enforcement folks and their evil plot to trick unsuspecting drivers into getting their cars towed.:
Many merchants on this block believe tourists or those simply unfamiliar with downtown streets are being hit the hardest by the tows, thanks in part to pay stations that allow drivers to purchase parking through 6 p.m., despite signs that say otherwise.
Merideth Meador, a bookkeeper at a First Avenue architecture book and supply shop, has seen it all before.
“They like to say, ‘Well, I put my money in. That means I should be fine.’ We have to explain to them that that’s not necessarily true,” she said.
Except, um… how is this any different from the old coin operated meters? They’d accept your money any time of the day… nights, weekends, holidays, whenever.
I mean, if the signage is insufficient, that’s one thing. But the fact that the meters continue to accept your money even after 3PM, well, they always did that.
AH, but that’s why you install modern equipment. The meters know not to charge people after 6. Try it, go down to the waterfront, park under the viaduct @ 5:45 and see what the machine does when you purchase “maximum time.” It’s a simple programing issue. I can see people confused about why the machines wouldn’t let you purchase past 3pm but then maybe a person would look around for signs if they’re confused.
You might as well argue that anal thermometers were just as effective as modern touch-and-read digital ones. Yes, they are, but that misses the point.
The old meters couldn’t do any different.
The new meters can — but they don’t.
How stupid are people? Wait, never mind. The machines cannot tell where you parked. You could be parked around the corner where it’s safe.
Nice to see the Times on the cutting edge of such a vital public issue. No wonder nobody is reading it any more.
Hey dumbasses, Goldy’s post wasn’t about the meters, it was about him thinking the Times’ is needlessly devoting an article to them.
Except these parking stickers are good throughout the city. So maybe I want to buy extra time when I park downtown, then zip up to Belltown or Capitol Hill and use the rest of the time left on the sticker.
If you’re too stupid to read a sign…
Laughing at the big “Firearms Training Institute” banner that’s running at the top of the page.
@3
Well agreed. Each block that is pay to park has a box on BOTH sides of the street. If you’re stupid enough to ignore the vending box on the street where you are physically parked and walk to a different one, do so at your own peril. But if one were to park at say 2:55 right next to a box, the box should warn you rather than give the impression that all is well.
@4 Maybe Goldy is slipping or my mind reading is getting bad. But the last two paragraphs of the post (usually where that thing, what’s it called, um, oh, CONCLUSION, goes) focuses on the meters being no different from the old ones.
@5, read the sticker. What you are suggesting is specifically prohibbited. You could buy 4 hours in Belltown, but if you move your car to Cap. Hill and the enforcement officer looks at the meter location of purchase, you will be ticketed.
SIGNS by the Five Man Electrical Band–
[Copied Material Deleted]
This fits perfectly with the Seattle Times’ aspirational identity as the paper of record for the “affluent” East Side ‘burbs.
Naturally they don’t get it. How can you expect folks who live out their lives in blacktop cul-de-sac wonderland to read traffic and parking signs? These are the people who park in the disabled space at Starbucks in the morning and run in cheerfully singing “I’ll only be a minute”. These people drive 6000 pound SUVs four blocks to pick up their kids from school. They are inculcated to an environment where the public commons are massively subsidized and relatively underutilized, and thus “free for the taking” by anyone with sufficient aggression or indifference. So how can they be expected to understand a setting where such things are tightly regulated to benefit the public good? The Times panders to douche bags.
Goldy–
You should be asking how many non-English speaking folks have fallen victim to the dreaded sign confusion.
How hard is it to read a sign??
“And the sign said stupid f—ing KLOWNS needn’t ought to park.
So I pulled my beater Volvo into a spot and I went in to ask him why.
He said read the sign you freaky bastard, it tells you what to do.
So I lit up a bowl with ol’ pothead Lee and said imagine that..rules that apply to me!”
Don’t the BIAW and the right in these parts have their jockey’s all in a wad about the Critical Areas Ordinance?
Isn’t the Five Man Electrical Band arguing that public use of private lands should take precedence over private ownership? And using a religious argument to boot!
I’m just sayin’…
(What, no Rasmussen today Cyn?)
Downtown businesses to Democratic city government: You are towing our customers, making them not want to come downtown to shop again.
Democratic city government to downtown businesses: Fuck you. Go out of business. We don’t care. We ain’t stopping this scam.
And the Republican’s are accusing the Democrats of wasting money…
@9
I live in the ‘burbs and from what I’ve seen you’ve summed things up nicely.
Read the F’ing signs. It’s not that hard.
ROTCODDAM@9 farts:
You haven’t been paying attention to many facts here on HA swineflu weasels… When Dave Reichert was running for reelection last fall, we were told by the HA leaders and others the “east-side” was turning more and more blue douche bags so Darcy would succeed this time. So you are attacking your own kind lil sista and you are tooooooo dense to actually know it.
Tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Funnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny
Michael, do you live on the east side ‘burbs?
Puddy,
I never said nor implied that only neo-conservative assholes like you could be douche bags who can’t read street signs. Only that the Times is pandering to a point of view held by douche bags, regardless of their political leanings.
But I’ve gotta hand it to you. That’s a respectable bit of self-recognition on your part.
Good work! As usual, you logic is a bit faulty. But you are making good progress on recognizing and admitting to your own faults. I’m very proud of you.
@7, don’t know what the sticker says, but according to the page at http://www.seattle.gov/transpo.....efault.htm, you can use a two hour sticker at any other neighborhood you want:
“Unexpired time on a 2-hour receipt may be used at any other 2-hour metered or pay station space. Unexpired time on a 10-hour receipt may be used only in another 10-hour space in the same neighborhood. A 10-hour receipt is not valid for any 2-hour space.”
@11 “(What, no Rasmussen today Cyn?)”
Rasmussen Alert!!
The Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll has the Presidential Approval Index at +7, a remarkable increase of 600% since only Saturday. Approval of our president’s performance is soaring, up, up, into the stratosphere!
@4 You can’t even get this right, can you? Dumbass. You’ve got it exactly backwards — Goldy’s article is about the meters.
@6 Don’t laugh. The wingers are armed. They are going around loudly announcing to anyone who’ll listen that they want to put us in “concentration camps” and “execute us.” If we’re smart, we’ll listen — and liberals will arm. Liberals must arm! It’s the only thing that will keep those goatfuckers polite.
@8 is devoid of content and therefore has been ignored.
Tell you the truth, Mr. C looks more like JCH every day. He obviously has deteriorated into Stage 5 Wingnut Brain Rot, and his posts increasingly are mere mindless babbling. It’s only a matter of time before he, too, has to be banned from HA.
Does anyone know if goats can transmit syphilis to humans?
@10 I think there’s sufficient evidence to initiate involuntary commitment proceedings. For Mr. C’s own protection, of course. … Well, for public safety, too.
@12 So if a commuter parks his car in a metered spot all day, and spends all day pushing paper in a cubicle in a downtown office tower, exactly how much business does he generate for downtown shops by hogging the parking space all day? Who exactly do you think badgers the Democratic city government for parking restrictions and parking enforcement? Dumbass.
@13 I wonder how much we taxpayers paid the GOP’s no-bid contractors who built the showers that electrocuted G.I.s?
I wonder if our soldiers in Iraq call those structures “Buchenwald Showers”? Just curious.
It must be tough to spend a whole tour of duty in a place like Iraq without ever taking a shower. Well, war is hell, and you do whatever you gotta do to stay alive.
@14 How can you expect people who never read newspapers to read a parking sign? Fuck ’em! Let those suburban Republicans support Seattle city services if they want to. That’s their free choice.
@17 You don’t really expect reading comprehension from poor ‘lil puddinghead, do you? That’s asking a lot.
C’mon Roger.
Give Puddy props for the progress he’s making here.
When Pud reads about douche baggery, his first impulse is to naturally be reminded of himself and his whack job, crypto-fascist GOP pals like Reichert, David Irons, and Pam Roach. And he takes the next step by admitting it.
There may be hope, even for Pud.
ROTCODDAM@17: Where did Puddy infer you were attacking Puddy? You logical? That will happen when Hell Freezes Over! I can see reading ain’t fundamental for you lil sista.You attacked east siders (Bellevue and Redmond) with a snide insipid douche bag vomit and when Puddy reminded you of the fact east side is going more blue you went apoplectic. Puddy don’t live on the east side and the Slimes reporting don’t pander to Puddy. That’s not my problem that’s yours. Why do HA swineflu weasel libtards such as yourself ROTCODDAM like to deal in watery shit anyway?
Puddy don’t get the Slimes cuz it’s waaaaaaaaaaaaay to libtard for Puddy. I can see reading ain’t fundamental lil sista, but enough of that. Wake up and smell life lil sista. You can’t live without attacking someone for something sometime. Puddy left that reservation long ago. Keep being led instead of leading! Keep up the hatred lil sista cuz it’s does the circulatory systems good!
Pelletizer, you accusing Puddy of reading comprehension when you tripped over your own shoe laces over the word “If”, Cuyahoga County Ohio, and Haiti? Puddy would say tripped over your own dick but you claim to be a dumb old scraggly bunny so we know the real size.
ROTCODDAM@28: Delusional doesn’t even start to describe your problems lil sista. Dave Reichert ain’t my representative, but Puddy called it right, the Darcy Moonbat! would go down in flames and she did. David Irons and Pam Roach don’t rep me either. But keep hope alive in your sniveling love for “the messiah”. Evan Thomas even said he’s approaching “god” status. So you got someone to worship, eh?
going back to the point
unlike the older meters
the modern meters are easily programmable to not take money for after 3 pm
in fact they probably have a record of each and every person who paid for time they didn’t need
class action anyone?
Did Ayn Rand ever weigh in on parking meters? If not, I have no opinion until Rush tells me what to think.
Ghengis, who runs Seattle again? Looks like another Greg I Gots My Two Nickels fiasco!
Nuff Said Sucka!
@16
Um… I guess I’m the south-west side ‘burbs. I live in Gig Harbor.
No, but Rabbits transmit tularemia to goats.