Parking enforcement

Q: What do you call a person who fails the police academy?
A: A parking enforcer.

Yep, these cop-wannabes don't need a degree, real-world experience, athleticism or good looks (the traits needed for any other job), they just need to be heartless bastards. In fact, they grew up to be this way because they were picked on as children and now are taking it out on others.

I have not been ticketed or towed recently. The motive for writing this rant comes from the news that the City of Madison is going to increase parking tickets fines by $5.

The city's funds have been mismanaged for years, and a bad 2009 economy didn't help. So now the city needs its thugs--I mean, parking enforcers--to go collect more money. (It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it). This is why you'll see parking enforcers camp out at meters about to expire or in two-hour parking zones.

Hell, we just increased meter and ramp rates citywide, so we may as well increase the fines, too. Just don't expect any mercy from the parking enforcers.

Parking rates increase again

Madison is raising its parking rates again. Downtown meters, for example, will increase from $1.25/hour to $1.50/hour. I'm not surprised by this action, given how poorly the city is run, especially in regards to all financial matters. It would be easier to swallow if:

1) We had better public transit options--namely, light rail, which could transport people from one side of town to another. Obviously, we are still years away from this.
2) The meters took credit cards. Who the hell carries that much change all the time? Two summers ago Madison experimented with meters that took credit cards, but so far the city has not indicated it will make them permanent.

I worry for downtown businesses, as most don't have parking lots. Hopefully the increased meter and ramp prices don't deter would-be diners, drinkers and shoppers too much.

Don't raise parking rates

An article in the Wisconsin State Journal today reported the city's Parking Utility is proposing increases in fees of all meters and parking ramps. Our rates are already high enough. This is Madison, Wis., a city of 200,000, not Chicago or even Milwaukee.

The PU wants to raise meters from $1.25/hr to $1.50/hr, and ramps such as Government East (next to the Great Dane) from $1.10/hr to $1.40/hr. If the City Parking and Transit Commission is wise, they will vote this down.

Downtown businesses are hurting, and raising fares will drive away potential customers. Doesn't the city already make enough money on the myriad of parking tickets they hand out? Those parking enforcers often wait on expiring meters (jackasses).

Perhaps if we had a better public transit system, such as light rail from Middleton to the airport/Sun Prairie, we could swallow this increase. But in today's economy, this hurts.

Bad Parking Design at Woodman's

Have you shopped at Woodman's on the west side of Madison in the past couple of years? The grocery store resurfaced its parking lot a few years back and stupidly decided to make the rows of parking run parallel (instead of perpendicular) to the store.

Stop and think for a bit. Can you name ANY store (department, grocery, mall, etc.) that has parking designed this way? Of course not, because it is a major inconvenience to the customer!



Take a look at diagram 1: If you are parked where the red dot is, and all the adjacent stalls are taken (as they usually are at popular Woodman's, thus no short cuts for you) ...


... you have to walk all the way down the end of the row and then back to get to your car (diagram 2). And if you do cut through, often a car is trying to turn into your spot and may not see you (especially at night and when there are a few other parked cars around to block the driver's view), thus jeopardizing your safety!

Look what happens if you park at the red dot in diagram 3 (and assuming the adjacent slots are filled and you can't cut through).




That would be a lot further walk then if you were at the same point in a correctly designed parking lot (diagram 4). This is why 99.9 percent of all parking lots are designed this way.



So, who are the geniuses that designed this lot, and who are the idiots at Woodman's that agreed upon the design? I took an Engineering Design class in high school, and we spent one measly unit learning parking design. In those couple of weeks, I learned all there was and designed my own (easily getting an "A"). Sadly, someone must've gone to college for this, and they still screwed up.

Next time you go to Woodman's, keep all of this in mind. Don't get suckered in parking in the middle (it seems closer by real distance) at busy times; park near the ends (shorter actual walking distance).

Additional rant: Have you ever noticed people who park outward (facing out) at grocery stores? Seeing how most people put groceries in their trunk and/or back seats, why would you make it more difficult to do so by parking this way? ALWAYS park inward at grocery stores!

One more rant: For places with angled parking, why drive through to park outward? It's a bigger inconvenience to get out because now you have to make a more than 90-degree turn to get out. Use your head!

Snow Plowing in Madison a Joke

On Saturday, Dec. 1, the Madison area experienced a situation with snow followed by freezing rain. Madison streets superintendent Al Schumacher told the Cap Times, "If we had plowed the snow Saturday, the freezing rain would have gone onto the pavement, and cars would have been bouncing into each other."

I whole-heartedly disagree with the city's choice not to plow on Saturday. Its inaction resulted in a heavy layer of snow topped with ice, a combination very difficult to plow and shovel. The city should have ordered plowing immediately, as well as spread salt and sand to reduce the effects of the freezing rain (yes, I realize no salt and sand were spread because of environmental issues, but I think the land and lakes can tolerate a little salt and sand in exchange for fewer accidents).

Anyone who drove on Saturday or Sunday knows the results: terrible road conditions, cars plowed in on the streets, ice everywhere. This is unacceptable, especially considering neighboring cities such as Fitchburg had clear roads. Those cities did the right thing in plowing early and often unlike Madison, which relies on late and hardly ever.

One other thing that is maddening: The alternate side parking debacle. I think most people don't follow it because they know the city won't plow anyway. For three days cars on my street downtown have diligently followed this rule, but the sides of the street are still not plowed. Meanwhile, the parking enforcers work hard to ticket people--I just wish the plow trucks would word even half as hard.