CLOSED AGAIN! SURPRISED? GET USED TO IT!

I'm not sure how long the Huddson Parking Bureau has been closed to the public this week, but it is closed today and, according to an automated email response I received from the bureau, it will reopen Tuesday (Monday is a holiday).  Word on the sidewalk is that the Parking Bureau Clerk, Emily, is pregnant. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, fills in for her when she goes on maternity leave, which could last as long as 6 months.  Right now, there is no one to take her place behind the window when she is gone for whatever reason.  The public relies on that bureau and that office being open at all times when it is supposed to be.  No one should be driving over there to find out no one is available to help.  Allowing the office to be closed is rude, disrespectful and disgraceful.  It's no surprise that HPD Captain David Miller is involved with the Parking Bureau (though he does not work for the bureau). 

It's been just two weeks since the Parking Bureau reopened after being closed for at least 7 business days.  Earlier today, in front of the parking lot on Warren closest to 3rd Street, I watched as two guys (tourists/visitors) struggled with the kiosk to pay for their on-street parking space.  They gave up after at least four minutes of effort, including inserting a credit card at least twice.  Then I heard one of them say, "I think we can pay online," and they walked to a nearby lamppost where one of them scanned the paid parking sign 9 feet above the sidewalk with his phone.  It was a perfect example of what Parking Captain Miller means when he extols the virtues of his new paid parking system by boasting, "People now have options to pay for parking that they didn't have with the meters."   Yeah, whatever, dude!

Upon closer inspection, the kiosk seemed to be frozen on one screen, not responding to any taps of keys, including CANCEL.  In other words, the fucking thing was useless and DEAD, no different than the $10,000 parking kiosk a few blocks to the east that has been just as useless and DEAD for the at least the past 11 weeks while it waits patiently for a new solar panel on top.  Earlier this week, I came across a woman who was tapping the keys on that kiosk to try to get it to work so she could pay for a parking space (there is still no OUT OF SERVICE sign on it, mainly because PC Miller has no manners).  I told her that the kiosk had been out of servicer for months, and she told me that she lives right across the street but this was only the second time she'd tried to use it.  "Sometimes I don't want to use my phone or I can't," she explained. Then she added, "It's broken, but they're probably still writing parking tickets."

"You know they are," I responded, and we both laughed.

So f'ng hilarious!

This is a picture I took two weeks ago of the kiosk that was not working today.  That's PC Miller being given a repair lesson from a kiosk technician.  Miller's city-issued vehicle was in the parking lot idling, as was the technician's pickup truck that was parked in the street.  Is it time to call the technician back to Warren Street?