You won't appreciate them until you've used them for the first time. Look at the system out at the airport (probably a different budget and different company) which I saw for the first time on Sunday and I love it. Finally, something with a tangible benefit.

Yeah, right. Sam the Tram's gonna be a great mayor, too.

I was skeptical about this, too. But having been to the airport, this system does save a lot of hassle and aimless meandering.

Partaking of our famed "downtown livability" is an enormous pain right now, and I've come to avoid heading downtown when possible. The estimated cost on this is $65,000. If that's actually a reasonable guesstimate -- yeah, I know that's a big IF -- I'd be on board for something that might help lure a few folks downtown to shop and sup.

The situation at the airport is different than in the Morrison Parking garage, the current system does keep track of the occupancy of the garage, by comparing in and out of the gate. Since there are no up ramps you have travel through the parking areas on your way to spotting the first available space, unlke the airport where you can choose to enter a floor or not. The attendant knows when the lot is full by the Entrance Control System, and puts the FULL sign out. There can be a stack up of cars waiting for other cars to take the spaces, and not nestled in spots with sensors, and I just don't see how this would make the parking easier in the any garage but the Jefferson Street which does have a central core access.

Has anyone thought this idea through? What if people are entering the downtown area from other bridges - such as the Burnside, Hawthorne, Steel or Ross Island? Don't they count?
Actually, I've seen these parking space counters just last weekend at several casino garages in Reno. They do help one avoid searching for vacant parking spaces on floors with few spaces left. But beyond that, I fail to see how putting some information on a bridge several blocks from the garage will help much.
Of course we should really be asking Sam how this will "help" fix the crummy streets in Portland.

I hope they will use different color lights or symbols to denote the status of the parking spots. My eyes cannot tell the difference between green and red under some lighting conditions. When my wife goes with me to the airport, the lighting system works great. When I am on my own, the lights look the same to me. I am not alone because I know a few other people who have the same color blindness problem.

On second thought, may be I have a disablity discrimination claim :-)

PDOT had me consult with the garage management company (can't remember their name now) about a year ago concerning doing this on the internet. The idea was you would see the available # of spaces when you looked at the smart park web pages. The management was really resistant to the whole idea at that time.
Their claim was that it was impossible to accurately monitor the spaces because of the amount of cars entering or exiting at any given time. Seems to me you would have the same problem with the electronic monitoring envisioned here.

At that time, the reason behind it all was the "keep Portland moving" plan that was intended to mitigate the traffic woes caused by the construction of the new transit mall.

Question: I heard the mall construction is just about over. Ergo "keep Portland moving" is over. So how come we proceed with this now? I use the Smart Parks all the time and never have a problem with available parking.

Hmmmm. I'm a little confused.

On the one hand, the commissioners seem to be doing all they can to make the Downtown business district UNATTRACTIVE to cars and their brave drivers...limiting parking, torn-up streets, and a focused effort to push people into mass transit (or to bicycle seats).

However, here we have an effort to make driving and parking Downtown easier. What gives?
Is it the typical "left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing" scenario?

Also, with a tip o' the hat to Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and State Representative Richard Curtis (R-Washington), traffic officials might want to refine their light/signal system to include one color for full-sized parking spaces (wide-stance ones) and another color for compact spaces (narrow-stance ones).

What if people are entering the downtown area from other bridges - such as the Burnside, Hawthorne, Steel or Ross Island? Don't they count?

Oh yeah -- they count. And after a suitable testing period and this system is deemed a "success," the contract will go from $65,000 to a million. But hey, it's only money.

Trimet uses some kind of system at the Sunset Transist Center parking garage.
There is a sign that says "lot full/lot open".
The problem I have seen more than once is when it says "lot open"...sometimes all that are left are handicapped spaces.

(3) a wide-area network devoted to communicating by DSL between the garages and signs.

Wait...why DSL? Whats wrong with the new wifi system?

I think hummers should have their own enlarged parking spaces you can reserve using your onboard computer system when seeing the green light on such open parking spaces. Also, you should be able to pause streetcars before they interfere with your car trip electronically from your onboard internet connection. Maybe we could fund this from Adams' proposed tranportation fee.

P.S Just going wacky. Somebody suggested I actually drove a hummer yesterday. It made me chuckle. Thank you.

To put the sign on the Morrison Bridge is a bit of a stretch, in my humble opinion. By the time one views the sign, stops at all the lights, since they aren't really synchronized, wait for pedestrians, bikes, skateboarders, etc. My guess is the availability of parking spots may have changed a few times, so it will still be a guess. Put the damn sign outside the parking structure, and maybe save a few bucks we don't have.

How about illuminating each pot hole with their own little flashing yellow light?

Better yet, we can put some kind of wi-fi enabled proximity sensors on all the cars that pay the new City of Portland gas tax: the Pot Hole Lights (PHLs) will only flash when a car approaches.

It will extend the battery life on the PHLs and help the taxpayer to avoid road hazards: Smart and Green!