I Could Never Make This Stuff Up! No Way! Could You?

There are a total of 16 diagonal parking spaces on South 7th Street, all found on the block's west side.  6 spaces are in the portion north of Cherry Alley, and 10 are south of the alley.  A few changes to the paid parking signs on that block were made yesterday and/or on Thursday.  Perhaps too many changes.

Among the 6 spaces there are now 8 scannable plastic paid parking signs.  2 are back-to-back on the streetlamp pole closest to Warren, 2 are back-to-back on the streetlamp pole closest to Cherry Alley, and 2 can be found back-to-back on each of the two long-standing sign poles, installed below parking signs having nothing to do with paid parking.  The only paid parking sign on a meter pole in that area was removed by DPW a day or two ago (as was the pole and bracket).  The meter pole closest to the alley that had never had a paid parking sign on it was also removed by DPW.  I saw it there on Thursday, still with the orange tape on top.  

So, to sum up:  No more signs are on meter poles among the 6 parking spaces because there are no more meter poles.  There are 8 signs, with 4 at 5 feet high and 4 at 9 feet high.  6 parking spaces, 8 signs!

Among the 10 spaces to the south, there are now 6 signs. The only remaining meter pole -- near the alley -- has 2 signs back-to-back (those two were installed this week a few days after the previous sign disappeared).  The sign, bracket and meter pole near Union were removed by DPW (as evidenced by the cone).  And, just like the 6-space area, a pair of back-to-back signs can be found on each of the two long-standing parking sign poles. To sum up:  10 parking spaces, 6 signs, with 2 at 3.5 feet high and 4 at 9 feet high.

To sum up the latest paid parking sign configuration on all of the very short block of South 7th Street:  16 parking spaces on one side of the street. 14 scannable paid parking signs, which includes 2 found 3.5 feet off the ground, 8 found 5 feet off the ground, and 4 found 9 feet off the ground. Choose your height! 

Each plastic sign cost us $19 (excluding the labor to install them). $266 in signs for 16 spaces works out to about $16.60 in sign cost per space (add labor and any parts to install).

Not long after I took my pictures among the 16 parking spaces across from Governor's, I came across a forlorn meter pole on North 5th Street.  I had noticed the sign on that pole a few days ago -- it looked in pretty rough shape, ready to succumb to the wind.  So, I took a picture of it.

Another one leaning toward a landfill!

Good grief, yet another meter pole missing a $19 paid parking sign. What do you suppose Parking Captain David Miller will do about that one when he finds out about it? Just have DPW cut the goddamn meter pole off at its base and call it a day?

If you read yesterday's article about this week's missing and broken parking signs (one on Columbia, one on North 7th), you may be wondering what became of the one hanging off the pole next to Lucky's gas station.  Well, you came to the right place again!  You'll be happy to know that yesterday someone replaced that mangled single-sided sign (cost: $19 excluding installation) with two single-sided signs back-to-back ($38 plus installation).  And what's keeping those plastic signs from pulling away from one another, either by the wind or by a curious hand or two?  Why, what else but a pair of wee binder clips so commonly found in any office, and just the kind of handy item any professional sign installer worth their salt will always be sure to have on hand!  You know, when you're in a real bind! 

When HUDseen notices the binder clips are gone, 
readers will be the first to know about it.  Stay tuned!

I had a chat today with the owner of a downtown retail business whom I hadn't seen in a while.  He told me business was good.  Of course, I had to ask him how he felt about the new paid parking system.  He said his customers weren't too happy with the change but that they'd get used to it.  He felt that the service fees were ridiculous, and we had some laughs about the signs.  His theory was that the city created a solution to a non-existent problem (the same thing I've heard from two other business owners).  When I told him that HPD was now in charge of parking, he looked at me incredulously.  "Really?" he said.  "Yeah, they are," I told him, "and Captain Miller is the supervisor of the new system."  We could hear police sirens wailing nearby.  

"What the hell is he spending his time dealing with parking for?" was his reaction.  

I'm often left wondering the same thing.