FW: parking meters

[Markos Miller]

Markos Miller
17 Atlantic Street
Portland, ME
04101
(207) 807-2681

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Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 09:18:03 -0400
From: j...@portlandmaine.gov
To: markos...@hotmail.com; mbob...@portlandmaine.gov
CC: BHY...@portlandmaine.gov; S...@portlandmaine.gov
Subject: Re: parking meters

Markos,

One of the benefits of the installation of the multi meters that we have been promoting to the downtown district is that they provide a neater cleaner street scape and facilitate snow removal efforts. Additionally the existing meter post are too close to the curb to allow for bikes to be attached to them without interfering with parked cars. Currently the meter post are at the end or beginning of the parking spaces, however without the single space meters denoting the spaces more vehicles will conceivably be able to fit along the curb line and the vehicle car doors may actually line up where the old meter post were. 

We have not yet made a decision on the old parking meters.  

 

Thanks

John

 

>>> Markos Miller <markos...@hotmail.com> 9/28/2013 6:42 AM >>>

John and Mike,

I've been hearing that Portland will be removing more of the old style parking meters. I'm wondering what will be done with the meters and the poles? I think there is a great opportunity to repurpose the poles as bike racks. This has been successful in other communities. I'm also wondering if these old meters might be available to the public if there is no plan for re-use? They might make interesting artifacts...

Markos


Markos Miller
17 Atlantic Street
Portland, ME
04101
(207) 807-2681

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[CitymouseUS]

Thanks, Markos, for reaching out to Mike Bobinsky and John Peverada.

All,

Some of these 'reasons' were included in the stories in the media about this. But they don't stand up to scrutiny, for the most part.

- neater cleaner street scape: is the streetscape so BAD now? It isn't, but if it were, the meters and poles wouldn't be a significant contribution. Intown, one wants a certain amount of liveliness, even messiness.
- facilitate snow removal efforts: this could be true, depending on the placement of the poles. Other street furniture (signs, lighting poles, trash cans, benches, etc.) and trees are not going to be removed as part of this effort.
- posts are too close to the curb/bikes interfering with parked cars: this prioritizes parked CARS over parked BIKES. Since car lengths vary, this may OR MAY NOT be a problem; removing all the posts because some motor vehicles might be inconvenienced doesn't seem like a fair solution. Additionally, motorists are not REQUIRED to be touching the curb with their tires. State law gives them up to 18" away from the curb.

I would advise us to argue for a judicious selection of poles for removal. It may be wise to develop some pro-pole-retrofit criteria. One of those could be the demand for bike parking in any given area. Surely there are others...

Alex

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From: Markos Miller <markos...@hotmail.com>
To: "PB...@googlegroups.com" <pb...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2013 11:54 AM
Subject: [pbpac] FW: parking meters

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[Zack Barowitz]

I wouldn't think we'd want to retain more than 1 on 5 existing meters.

Put more simply: we'd only want to convert a relatively small fraction of Tue obsolete meters.

[Abby King]

Hi All,

What was the conclusion of this effort? It may be a good time to go back to the City with this request as Jeff Levine's summer intern has been asking about immediate needs for bike parking ( I know you've already sent her the google map.) I am told she plans to be at next Monday's meeting.

Examples from this type of retrofit in NYC: http://magazine.good.is/articles/nyc-will-turn-12-000-old-parking-meters-into-bike-racks

-Abby

Abby King

Community Advocacy Coordinator

Bicycle Coalition of Maine

ab...@bikemaine.org

207.740.8753

@beeking84