The legal notice is dry:
Notice is hereby given that the Downtown Plan Subcommittee of the Town Plan Implementation Committee will meet on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. in Room 309 of the Westport Town Hall for the following purpose(s): Discussion of downtown parking issues/options with Kirby Andrews of Street Smart Technology.
But the impact may shake Westport, and alter it forever.
StreetSmart Technology sells “automated parking solutions.”
In other words: high-tech parking meters.
StreetSmart promises to increase “enforcement productivity and motorist compliance.” They’ll “monitor the status of every parking space during enforcement hours.” And they’ll provide “cash accounting and auditing controls.”
What a great idea — for municipalities that already have parking meters.
We don’t. Yet downtown is still withering on the vine.
You won’t see parking meters downtown next week.
But after Wednesday’s meeting, they may be much closer than they are today.
I stopped going to SoNo because of metered parking. I guess I can forego Westport too. There are no parking on the web.
I guess the Uhaul trucks that park 24×7 in Parker Harding will be funding the BOE budget
Dan,
Do you have the names of these committee & sub committee members and who appointed / elected them ?
Jonathan Steinberg is listed as the chair.
Chip, The U-Haul is also known as the Pottery Barn warehouse; free parking in a town lot sure beats paying for rent. Think about that the next time you see a ticket being written for parking passed the stated time limit downtown.
So, anybody who actually showed up at the meeting Wednesday found out that we had a great discussion on all sorts of parking and traffic issues and options! Meters were a small part of it and hardly the focus of our conversation. Kirby Andrews was there as a Westport citizen with expertise in the area; he was not brought in as a representative of Street Smart Technology.
Parking is a key issue as the subcommittee begins to formulate a POV on Downtown, which has been meeting for over a year. We encourage a wide range of viewpoints and stakeholders. Dan, next time maybe you’ll give me a call before speculating! You also have my email address.