More Unforeseen Problems, Questions and Expenses Regarding Those $10,000 Parking Kiosks!

 

Who ever could have guessed that little plastic bags of dog shit on top of our precious $10,000 parking kiosks (blocking the solar panels) would be an issue that HPD Parking Captain David Miller would have to contend with?

A few weeks ago, I sent an email to Parking Captain Miller, cc'ng several council members and the mayor, asking him if he was okay leaving the most vulnerable of our $10,000 parking kiosks unprotected against vehicles able to knock them over in an instant (or get whacked by an opening door). I included a picture of the unprotected kiosk just outside of one of the two Warren Street parking lots. I also asked Miller how much it would cost taxpayers to purchase and install protection for the kiosks.

The city's most vulnerable kiosk is not in the same Warren Street parking lot in which Common Council "president" Margaret Morris recently drove her car up and over a 5-inch curb and slammed into the wall of a building a few feet away.  The Morris Lot (yes, it should be renamed, and with a plaque!) is closer to 3rd Street and The Maker, whose cafe Morris ate lunch at immediately after her nonsensical incident (instead of waiting for the police to respond), an incident that she will not allow public comment on at any of her Common Council meetings.  (Can she really control what people say at public meetings?  Of course she can't!).  There isn't a raised curb anywhere near the kiosk situated inches from a parking space at the edge of the parking lot next to MOTO.  It is as vulnerable as possible to being knocked into or over.  Destroyed.   Of course, rather than a building wall, Morris could have just as easily "accidently" driven straight into and over a $10,000 parking kiosk with or without hopping over a 5-inch curb.  Now wouldn't that have been a great incident with a fascinating explanation and headline!  Common Council president destroys new $10,000 parking kiosk after losing control of her car in parking lot.  She blames the mishap on the sun's glare; doesn't wait for cops to arrive.  Cops wait for her to finish lunch across the street, question her afterwards and show her the destroyed kiosk.  Mayor says the kiosk should have been protected against vehicles in the parking lot.  Says he will create a survey to see how residents feel about the risks to the expensive kiosks and how much they want to spend on protecting them, more of which are on the way to city sidewalks.

I digress!

While Captain Miller did not respond to my email about the unprotected $10,000 kiosk next to MOTO (nor did I expect him to respond), I did get a pleasant (and rare) surprise when I saw that two council members did respond, and they included everyone (including the mayor) in the thread.  What was doubly interesting to me was that both of the responding council members were women.  Jen Belton and Claire Cousin both began their responses with "Bill has a point..."  Jen Belton then opined that bollards surrounding the kiosk next to MOTO would be cheaper than having to buy a new one. 

Earth to Parking Captain Miller:  Are you able to pay attention to the important details?  Why do these things need to be pointed out to you?

If you notice a spray-painted white circle on a sidewalk in the city's expanded blocks of paid parking, you can bet that one of the city's remaining ten $10,000 kiosks will be installed there soon. (They were delivered to the city 15 or 16 months ago.  Are they obsolete yet?)  How soon they will arrive, I do not know. Maybe Parking Captain David Miller knows.  

I noticed two new kiosk locations yesterday, one on Warren's 700 block and one on Columbia.  It seems to me that it's not so smart to install a kiosk at a curb alongside a parking space where car doors might want to open and help someone get in and out of parked cars, but what the hell do I know? (Parking meters were never found alongside parking spaces, they were always between spaces.)  The ten $10,000 kiosks will not be nearly enough to cover all of downtown's expanded on-street paid parking acreage.  What HPD has in mind (and how much it will cost) to cover all on-street parking with kiosks is anyone's guess, as is the question of when everything for the new paid parking system will be in place and up and running smoothly on its own.  Don't you worry, though, HPD is still hard at work to get it all right!  And don't you worry about crime, because there is no crime in Hudson for HPD to worry about, respond to or prevent anymore.  Thank goodness there's no shortage of parking issues for them to keep busy, particularly that Parking Captain Miller! 

The kiosks coming will be the first to exclusively cover on-street parking. These two pictures show different angles of where a kiosk is planned to be located in roughly the middle of the south (odd) side of the 700 block of Columbia Street, presumably meant for all of the spaces to the east (to 8th Street) and to the west (to Park Place or beyond to 7th Street).  One kiosk will have to be installed across the street for the 6 or 7 spaces on the even side, though I have yet to see a white circle there.