Don't let the City of Portland know. They might label downtown "resort"

After working in downtown Portland for over 30 years, I have decided the "City that works" doesn't work for me.

12 minutes overdue, while talking to a long-winded attorney, just cost me $34. While I can afford it and have paid it, it offends me to the point that I will go out of my way to no longer go downtown. If I do, SmartPark is getting my business! $34 just cost the City and its business's a bunch of future gross receipts. "Live long and Prosper" but not on my dime.

These fines are a great way to drive business to the suburbs. Why in God's world would a person live in Multnomah County or the City of Portland?

If I do, SmartPark is getting my business!

Uh, dude, I think Smart Park is owned by the City, ostensibly as the better alternative to on-street parking...even though the hourly rate is the same.

plague2u: what's the city supposed to do? put up meters but never enforce them?

also, unless you were standing there as the ticket was written, you were more than 12 minutes late getting back to your car.

the next time you're downtown (and yes, you'll be downtown again) , do the smart thing and park in a garage.

uh, rita:

I've been ticketed for being 2 minutes late. Near PNCA, when I was a student there. Seriously. So were a number of my classmates.

After that, I synchronized my watch to the time on the receipt you put on your car. (And according to my cellphone, my original time on my watch WAS correct.)

But there's no arguing with the parking police.

"Don't follow leaders
And watch your parkin' meters."

"East Coast" includes a lot of locations that have not resorted to metered parking; indeed, it might be better to avoid those places that have. Island Beach State Park, on the southern tip of the island that houses Toms River, for instance, should still provide a respite from the nickel&dime&quartering. But who travels cross-country and cross-Jersey for a couple of hours of Middle Atlantic bliss?

Please don't tell me Wellfleet has parking meters.

talea: what's your point? that there should be a grace period? say 30 minutes? what should the parking police do if you're only 2 minutes past the grace period?

Last fall me and my wife went to the other Portland....Portland Maine for a 4 day mini vacation as we live at the Jersey Shore year round and wanted a change.
Within the first hour of parking downtown, yep you guessed it a parking ticket was on the dash of my rent a car.
However, this story has a nice ending.
The amount for the ticket was $15.00 and payable within 10 days.
I stated to Susan my wife Wow this is a bargin in todays market and cut a check back at our hotel and mailed it the following day. Now let me state in Cape May where I live the parking whores charge $35.00 a pop! AND THEY WAIT FOR YOU!!!! back to my vacation from Portland several days latter I recieved a letter from the city of Portland,Maine that since I was a visitor my parking ticket was forgiven and my check has been shredded.
That brought a smile to my face as I said to Susan "We Will Return"!

It's the paying on Sunday afternoons and until 7 pm week days that gripes me.
Oh yeah, and the very!!! obtuse, obscure, and arcane "rules" for requested permit parking are a pain too!
Has anyone but me noticed the so called 'transit mall' is a ghost town? NO businesses, only empty 1st floors.
"Portland, the city of jerks, that jerks you around" ought to be the motto.

Here's a thought:

Ditch the parking meters.

Rebuild the downtown business core by removing the meters and causing people to WANT to go downtown.

If their goal is to reduce the car trips through downtown, then make the streets car-free and move the parking lots to the outskirts, reinstate the fareless square for buses.

Reduce the parking patrol, reducing the number of pensions the we're on the hook for. Or spread the parking patrol out through the city to enforce the 24-hour parking limit on street parking within the city limits and of course Downtown. Reducing the number of mobile meth labs causing problems in many of our neighborhoods.

The increase in business income taxes downtown could offset quite a bit of the loss of the parking meters.

I think the point of parking meters downtown is to encourage people that don't work there to come by offering them spots to park. Without meters, people who work downtown would all park in front of their buildings all day, leaving no place for people who are visiting to patronize downtown attractions and businesses to park. I've parked downtown countless times...never a ticket, so hold the sob stories as some kind of evidence of an epidemic. If you break the law, you get fined...end of story.

I am aware that this is where we b*tch about meters , and meter
People , but I was with a customer last month in front of a busy pub , and we came out 3 min. late and the fellow had his book out , but heard our story and let us go , so cut them some slack. I can assure you if you take out meters the cheapest losers in town would fill up the core and never move. Meters move cars and help businesses/jobs.
If you don't like them ride the Max and Streetcar!

Rita: Of course, I wasn't suggesting that -- rules are rules. As a result of my two-minute lapse, I learned to pad my meter; when you're at a class, you don't always get out on time. (I did get there as the woman finished writing my ticket. Took her no time at all. But unlike the guy above, she didn't offer not to write it.)

But you didn't seem to believe the guy who said he was 12 minutes late and got a ticket; you suggested he must have been much later or he would have come upon the person writing it. I've actually watched parking authority folks circle around a spot where the meter is about to expire. They are very prompt, at least in the Pearl.

During the 30 years I actually worked downtown, I had frequent conversations with Bill Naito (remember him, a great American!). Bill was adamant, at least to me, that TriMet should be free for everyone. His rationale was that (a) this would really encourage ridership, (b) the lost revenue would be nominal as there would be no need for fare collectors, ticket police, accountants, etc., (c) free fares would drive down the cost of parking in parking lots, (d) the ridership would be so high that on-street parking would be more available for those who truly used it short-term and (e) people would be encouraged to shop in downtown Portland due to the 'cheap' access. I don't know if any of his notions can be proven, but at first blush (and even second) they seem inherently reasonable, unless the real objective is to raise revenue for the various governmental agencies.

Has anyone been to the City of Vancouver lately? They have the first 15 minutes on a meter for free, then some rather reasonable additional charges and (its been a while) reasonable fines.

So, while SmartPark doesn't clip me $34 for being 12 minutes late, Washington Square and environs look pretty good....

Be careful what you say.

Mayor Sam already wants to force retailers to charge for paper bags and ban plastic bags.

I bet you, next he's going to require that any business with a parking lot charge you to park, $1.00 for every 10 minutes (or $6.00/hour).

The dollar amount might change, but I bet he has that proposal up his sleeve.

"macht nichts", I leave this disaster zone to folk willing to pay for the bureaucratic bungling they so willing embrace.

Jeez, Erik, the Tramwhore's dweebs read this site. Don't give them any more scary ideas.

Jack,

There's no reason to pay some out of town parking ticket. What are they gonna do, tow you?

No, they'll go after the car rental company, who will in turn go after me. Besides, I'm a lawyer who would like to keep my license to practice.

Red, Yellow, Green, Blue lines
many buses
bike

park and ride....

http://triment.org

that should have been http://trimet.org

and as you can see, I also like Undriving!

http://albertideation.com/2010/07/28/undriving/