Parking Meters Out

[joev]

lizless wrote >>
Yes, the director is appointed by the mayor.

Then pressure the mayor, who is up for re-election. The buck stops with him. If the public’s voice is aimed at the mayor, who has the power to correct the system, then I’ll bet those voices will be met with more regard.

[Elizabeth Lessner]

Ideally, I’d love to see more than just one person accountable for a department that oversees a public asset that affects so much of our downtown and generates so much revenue. These problems have been ongoing for at least a decade and they are crippling downtown revitalization efforts.

When I’ve taken matters up with our elected City Council Members they inform me that they are unable to do anything because the power for many of these big decisions remains with the Director. Hearings remain useless if Council has no vote on these matters. If Council Members were given votes, I believe we’d see a lot of change. It’s up to them to take back this power but they have yet to do so. Perhaps some of our newer CM’s will rise to this occasion.

The Director’s decision to unilaterally raise parking meter rates last year was eventually reversed by the mayor but only after a very large and organized public outrage campaign against the decision. The small nickel and dime instances we see every single day aren’t being considered at all and there’s simply not enough pressure that is leading to any change.

I believe the Council Members could mitigate many of the challenges being created by the director and his department.

[Andrew Hall]

lizless wrote >>
Yes, the director is appointed by the mayor.

Hence my (continual) comment about the lack of leadership.

A true leader has a ‘buck stops here’ mentality and *takes responsibility* for the actions of those he/she leads. These are not new issues and the leadership void continues.

@joev I wish there were an effective way to apply electoral pressure. The Mayor and increasingly Council seem to have made a political calculation that they don’t need our support. We haven’t had a Republican on Council since 2003 and that makes it hard for that party to nominate a credible, experienced candidate. Add to that that (iirc) *not a single member* of Council has run as anything other than an incumbent due to the revolving appointment process and their political calculation works out to our detriment.

A.

[joev]

Why worry about changing the system, when all you have to do is convince Mark Kelsey’s boss (the elected mayor) that he’s doing a bad job? It seems like this is a big enough problem that’s throwing up lots of barriers to the outcomes Mayor Coleman has been pursuing.

[berdawn]

joev wrote >>
Why worry about changing the system, when all you have to do is convince Mark Kelsey’s boss (the elected mayor) that he’s doing a bad job? It seems like this is a big enough problem that’s throwing up lots of barriers to the outcomes Mayor Coleman has been pursuing.

What happens the next time there is a problem? Lack of accountability on this (and other issues) is a problem that could be addressed with a ward system.

[rus]

If currently elected officials aren’t in danger of losing their next election, why should they care that some people think they’re doing a bad job?

Not like it affects them…

[Walker Evans]

If I’m hearing correctly, it sounds like what some people are proposing is a public campaign pledging support for Earl W. Smith if Mayor Coleman doesn’t replace Mark Kelsey?

Sounds like something that could be a pretty strong movement.

[joev]

Maybe someone who is affected should call Dan Williamson. Or The Dispatch. There are a lot of ways that already exist to exert pressure.

[rus]

Walker wrote >>
If I’m hearing correctly, it sounds like what some people are proposing is a public campaign pledging support for Earl W. Smith if Mayor Coleman doesn’t replace Mark Kelsey?
Sounds like something that could be a pretty strong movement.

That would work.

[labi]

Andrew Hall wrote >>
I wonder if some of the problems are related to how odd the buttons are. Just a couple minutes ago, I thought I had a broken meter. I realized the buttons are not buttons, but sensitive divots. My index finger tip had to go into it and not just press. I suspect it will not work with a glove on.
If this is the case, maybe not the best choice in design. Every other place I have used them have been pressure sensitive true buttons.
A.

The “ok” button worked, but the time buttons did not. I tried multiple approaches (shall we say) to interacting with them, to no avail.

[gramarye]

There are also other ways to exert pressure on the mayor and his administration.

Media attention is always a big one, and this is the kind of thing that might get some mainstream media attention because it has the potential to generate some heat; many viewers would probably empathize. The downside is that suburban viewers and/or readers of such coverage would be even less likely to come downtown in the future, since it would just be broadcasting and reinforcing the feeling that many suburbanites already have that downtown in unwelcoming, alien territory.

A primary challenge gets people’s attention in the abstract, but Coleman would swat aside most primary challengers.

Someone (or a group) with enough money could potentially play the insider’s game and get a lobbyist with connections to Coleman to try and get his attention and raise the concerns. (Ignore that slimy feeling you get just thinking about it.)

Grassroots letter-writing campaigns can work if they build up enough steam (and, these days, are sufficiently reinforced by social media and other ways of launching a sufficiently potent information barrage to cut through all the usual media noise), especially when it comes to local politicians that aren’t routinely deluged with such letters (and therefore are less inured to them).

Of course, threatening to switch parties also does get people’s attention, but it generally works best when there is less distance between them and when the other side has an opportunity to capitalize on a few defections (e.g., through the media or other means) to lure even more (so you can threaten the possibility of 1,000+ people leaving the incumbent’s camp, not just a handful).

Nukes from orbit should be saved for only the most urgent of situations, but I believe one should explore all options and not take anything off the table …

[Walker Evans]

rus wrote >>

Walker wrote >>
If I’m hearing correctly, it sounds like what some people are proposing is a public campaign pledging support for Earl W. Smith if Mayor Coleman doesn’t replace Mark Kelsey?
Sounds like something that could be a pretty strong movement.

That would work.

I don’t really know much about Earl, but what I’ve heard in the past 2 weeks from a couple people who’s opinions I really respect is that he’s a really stand-up guy and would make a solid mayor.

I need to reach out to him for an interview and see if we can find out more about his stance various policies and topics. I wonder how he feels about parking meters. ;)

[drew]

gramarye wrote >>
Media attention is always a big one, and this is the kind of thing that might get some mainstream media attention because it has the potential to generate some heat; many viewers would probably empathize.

Frankly, I’m shocked by how little attention the issue gets by the media. This is the kind of stuff that media outlets in other cities positively feast on.

[rus]

drew wrote >>

gramarye wrote >>
Media attention is always a big one, and this is the kind of thing that might get some mainstream media attention because it has the potential to generate some heat; many viewers would probably empathize.

Frankly, I’m shocked by how little attention the issue gets by the media. This is the kind of stuff that media outlets in other cities positively feast on.

Kinda makes you wonder why, doesn’t it?

[Static-X]

Lizless, Does Director Kelsey know just how you feel about him, especially when you’re on his ‘parking meter committee’ ? Do you tell him to his face that he needs to be replaced by someone more competent? I want to let everyone in on a little common sense, since some of you have zero of it. If it weren’t for the ticket writers enforcing parking violations, the city would be in gridlock. People would be double and triple parking, parking in intersections, parking in crosswalks and sidewalks. Handicap parking and fire hydrants would be fair game. And I guarantee you, Liz, the parking in front of your establishments would be totally taken up by people other than your patrons. And finally, the last thing a ticket writer wants is confrontation with angry citizens. So they are not writing tickets with minutes still on the meters. Nor are they hiding behind lamp posts, walls, other cars and etc., waiting for your meter to expire to give you a ticket. They are simply writing tickets when the meter is zero’ed out. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND STOP BLAMING OTHERS :>O

[Author]

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