They must be exhausted

One can imagine the rigors of the search for the illegal parker and just how terribly tired the champions of truth and justice (as it were) must become. This must be why the meter readers naps so frequently. I found this particular one just last Thursday at around 7:30 am. I'm sure she was refreshed and up to her task after her 40 winks.

Just plain wrong, retold.

Between 3:30 and 5:30, as you may already have read, the city does not want you to park on Water Street in the 600 block. This is so that the street remains clear for “rush hour” traffic. Not having people parking in that lane ostensibly opens a third lane for all the downtown traffic. But since it is not marked, and since the meter kiosk does not tell you cannot park there. People do anyway. And then with the incessantly hovering meter readers, 2 lanes are blocked. Throw in a tow truck and all 3 and sometimes the outside, oncoming lane is blocked. What is the point? If the city needs the street clear it is not being accomplished. The present system is a mess, it doesn’t do anything except make money for the city and for the towing companies. It is a misery for all the people who park there and most of them very unknowingly leave their cars because the city deliberately does not make it obvious that you are going to be ticketed much less towed.

The ceaseless work of the meter reader

The view from my condo affords me a sweeping panorama of the west. In the foreground is the parking lot of the Pick and Save. It is a popular napping spot for the tireless, well, apparently not tireless since they are often tired after their relentless pursuance of the injustices of the parked car, meter readers. I noticed, but did not have my camera to get a shot of it yesterday, the meter readers out MARKING TIRES WITH CHALK so downtown shoppers don't overstay their 2 hour limit downtown. On Saturdays, you can park for free BUT ONLY FOR 2 HOURS AND NO MORE!!!! What idiocy. Let's encourage people to come downtown so we can give them tickets.

Oh, and just give a drive by any morning around 7 in the vicinity of Lyon and Jackson and look for the sleeping meter readers.

Parking issues retold. Part 1.

The 600 block of N Water Street is a busy place during the day. Not so busy at night except on Friday and Saturday late, when the weird club is open. The city in its wisdom has seen fit, for as long as I've been working downtown, to forbid parking between 3:30 and 5:30 pm so the street is clear for rush hour (as if we have any) traffic. In theory, though unnecessary, this is fine. But in practice it is not workable nor fair.

I have worked downtown for more than 30 years. For the last 25 or so I have had a window office on the second floor that faces the corner of Water and Wisconsin. Somehow, and what seems like suddenly, though in fact it's been several years, the parking checkers have multiplied like rabbits, or maybe lice is a better word. One day it just dawned on me that we had a much larger force and they were vicious about their job. If you park downtown and your meter expires, you WILL have a parking ticket. And if you come out in the course of the ticket being written, you have no chance of talking him or her out of it.

Hoping for a little magic or at least mischief

It is unclear what these elves were doing parking on Water Street but my hope is that they were up to no good vis a vis the parking checkers. Whatever they were doing they were also picketing for employment. Things must be getting rough at the North Pole what with all the global warming and such.

Sleeping on the job.

This morning on the way to work I drove past (and hastily took a picture) of Meter reader, car 56 taking a snooze on the clock. Not only was she sleeping on the job, she was taking up a parking space in an area of valuable spaces.

Lickin' his chops

Not a car parked illegally, not even one in sight. So you'd think that the rush hour traffic could just breeze through. Instead, this towing service is just in the way waiting for some unknowing victim to park. After that he'll have to wait for the meter reader finally come and give the ticket so he can tow the car.

Good deed do-er

These folks were going to park their car at 4 pm. Fortunately for them, one of my co-workers, Javier, was crossing the street to go to the gym where he is working on extra cardio to lose weight in a bet he has going with Dave, but that's another story. He walked past them, then came back and told them that they couldn't park there (he's partially hidden by the light pole), saving them the $50 ticket and the possible $150 towing charge. I was pleased to know I work with such compassionate people.

Prominent attorney reads sign

In a display of unexpected intelligence, a local attorney actually read the sign after he tried to park his shiny silver jag after 3:30 and the meter wouldn't take his coin. He left. Too bad for his pouting girlfriend who was waiting impatiently for him.

The Getaway

Yet another example of the city keeping the streets clear. Here the tow truck sits waiting for the meter reader to come and give the car a ticket (you can see in the first picture that there is no ticket on the car) so he can tow it. Oddly, the meter reader, of which there are generally 2 or 3 thousand hovering on the block, was nowhere in sight and the truck patiently waited for 20 minutes (blocking traffic the entire time), so long that the owner of the car, who was in violation of city ordinance for over 20 minutes came out, frantically got in his car, drove off and got away scott free. The middle picture is the evil tow truck driver.

Free flowing traffic

In their never ending campaign to make sure our downtown streets are clear for the onslaught of rush hour traffic, the city has mandated "no left hand turns" between 3:30 and 6. As you can see, at 5 pm, the inability to turn left is keeping the traffic flowing nicely, all 6 of the cars were moving well.

3:33

It is exactly 3:37. I took this picture at 3:33 (no parking starts at 3:30). The guy towing it arrived and waited for the meter maid to get there and give the ticket. Fortunately the guy who owned the car came out before he got towed and was able to get his car before it got taken away. Unfortunately, the car on the truck wasn't so lucky.

Tow, then ticket

The tow truck arrived before the meter reader. He just waited patiently for the guy to come and write the ticket. The people in the car behind it came walking out of the bank and had a nearly cartoonish realization what was happening and that they were next. They ran to their car, examined their ticket in horror and fled. I have no idea what the guy was doing walking in the middle of the road.

Three at once

The city must feel so proud. Tonight they towed 3 at one time. Imagine the money they will make.

Insult to injury.

If it all isn't bad enough. We have to see this as they prepare to tow away a car.

The kiosk windows that could but don't tell you that you can't park there at 3:30. You put money in and nothing happens. A simple message that shows up at 3:30 that says "no parking from 3:30 to 5:30" would be sufficient.

My favorite picture

He/she smoked 3 cigarettes while blocking traffic during "rush hour."

3:45. Clear street except for the jeep that's parked in the loading zone. I don't know where she went. But she's been gone since before 3:30. Unfortunately there's a meter reader just up the block. Of course, just sitting there blocking traffic.

Keeping the street clear.

7/21/09, 4:10 pm. Our city hard at work keeping the street clear for rush hour traffic. You can see a second tow truck in the second picture. Keepin' that traffic movin'. The meter reader is still sitting there (blocking traffic) waiting to see the fine work of the tow trucks.

Plaid Nation

Watched this vehicle pull up and read the parking sign. Might be the first time I've ever seen anyone do that. They then sped off which is why the pic is so blurry. I hardly had any time to take the picture. So I went online to see who Plaid Nation is and they are apparently touring the midwest. They have a Twitter column and in their posted tweets they had already received their first parking ticket in Milwaukee despite having only been here a few hours. I still don't know what Plaid Nation is, though I do like plaid.

Lane change

The city wants to keep the parking lane open during the hours of 3:30 to 5:30. So what they do is ticket anyone who is parked there. In order to accomplish this they block all 3 lanes of traffic. This is last night at 4:10, not a lot different from any night. 6 cars had been ticketed earlier. In the third picture you can see the owner of the car. In the last picture she is pleading with the meter reader. I do not know if she was successful. I left after 10 minutes of watching this. Obviously all 3 lanes were blocked that entire time. So that's good.

Conundrum

I'm not sure how to think about this. First is the issue of the woman parked in 2 spots, a phenomenon that is quite common. I've not seen anyone get a ticket for this, or at least I'm unaware if that happens. Then there is the utterly random parking job of the bikers. It seems not quite right that they are parked in the formation they've chosen. Half in and half out, right on the line and then into the loading zone. It's 3:06, I will be interested to see how confusing this might be for the meter reader.

Miracle of miracles

Thursday 4 pm. The street is clear. This may have something to do with the immense "No Parking" sign that is hanging over the regular sign, though that is actually for Saturday morning or it may have something to do with the 3 cars they'd already towed. But I have to say, I think this is the first time I've seen the street clear since I became aware of this miserable business several years ago.

Not that people don't deserve tickets.

This woman parked in 2 spots and left her car. She deserved the ticket she got. I hope she got a ticket for both of them. On the downside though, she got her ticket at 3:34. Bummer.

View from the kiosk

Standing at the payment kiosk which tells you absolutely nothing, if you looked up the street to find a sign, this is what your view would be. Barely visible and not a thing that says you'll be towed. View north - nothing. View south - just about nothing.

At least there's a sign

Too bad it's facing east. When you're standing at the payment kiosk, there are 2 signs you could possibly see. Unfortunately one is facing away from you to the north and the other is facing east and so are you. There is nothing that says tow-away zone.

30 Minutes

I leave work at 4 which means I only see one half hour of tickets. These are just 2 photographs. There were at least 10 $50 tickets given out in 30 minutes. The third picture is a gratuitous picture of a guy begging to no avail, of course.

These 4 cars are getting tickets, it is 3:34.

Then as I was leaving, I took the second picture. 2 more cars had joined the mess.

Decoys

The next issue is linked to the bad signage. So there are no signs, ok, to be fair, there are signs, but they're bad ones and the meter kiosk which should say very definitively that there is NO PARKING BETWEEN 3:30 and 5:30 very coyly does not say anything. So what happens is that while some cars depart when the parking checker sweeps through but once the checker leaves other people park there since there are usually cars, albeit ticketed ones, sitting there or else people pull up and simply wait for people who are getting off of work departing when the checker comes through. Which will be in 5 minutes. They go around the block once or twice and then sit there again.

When cars are parked there, it attracts other cars like duck decoys. Here is a series of pictures taken in sequence.

Click on the image to make it larger

Just plain wrong

Between 3:30 and 5:30, as you may already have read, the city does not want you to park on Water Street in the 600 block. This is so that the street remains clear for “rush hour” traffic. Not having people parking in that lane ostensibly opens a third lane for all the downtown traffic. But since it is not marked, and since the meter kiosk does not tell you cannot park there. People do anyway. And then with the incessantly hovering meter readers, 2 lanes are blocked. Throw in a tow truck and all 3 and sometimes the outside, oncoming lane is blocked. What is the point? If the city needs the street clear it is not being accomplished. The present system is a mess, it doesn’t do anything except make money for the city and for the towing companies. It is a misery for all the people who park there and most of them very unknowingly leave their cars because the city deliberately does not make it obvious that you are going to be ticketed much less towed.

In the first shot is the guy is begging the meter reader (unsuccessfully) for mercy. The checker is in the 2nd lane, and in the other the tow truck is blocking all traffic.

Bad Parking Policy

Bear with me. This first one will be a longish blog, the ones that follow, not so much. Mostly pictures.

The 600 block of N Water Street is a busy place during the day. Not so busy at night except on Friday and Saturday late, when the weird club is open. The city in its wisdom has seen fit, for as long as I've been working downtown, to forbid parking between 3:30 and 5:30 pm so the street is clear for rush hour (as if we have any) traffic. In theory, though unnecessary, this is fine. But in practice it is not workable nor fair.

I have worked downtown for more than 30 years. For the last 25 or so I have had a window office on the second floor that faces the corner of Water and Wisconsin. Somehow, and what seems like suddenly, though in fact it's been several years, the parking checkers have multiplied like rabbits, or maybe lice is a better word. One day it just dawned on me that we had a much larger force and they were vicious about their job. If you park downtown and your meter expires, you WILL have a parking ticket. And if you come out in the course of the ticket being written, you have no chance of talking him or her out of it.

Granted, it is not a nice kind of job and I imagine that they get a lot of flack a lot of the time and so may be somewhat immune to the misery that they inflict on people. But I have witnessed the scene hundreds of times over the years and have only once or twice seen someone walk away from a ticket. Though I have to say, in the defense of meter readers that I know for a fact that some of the parking checkers have allowed people to park all day with out giving them tickets at all. The abortion protesters at the women's clinic in particular enjoyed immunity from certain of the meter readers. Especially one woman who would stop to have a cigarette while she chatted with the protesters. After seeing this occur 3 or 4 times, I suggested she get to work, there were several meters that had expired just down the block. Oddly they all had anti-abortion stickers on them. Then I reported her. Whether this did anything I don't know but the abortion clinic is closed and I see her parked smoking on Plankinton near the freeway exit now with no one to talk to.

So the city wants Water Street clear between 3:30 and 5:30 which I understand. Unfortunately they have not posted this anywhere except at the top of the parking sign at the ends of the street. The portion that informs the parker that there is no parking is approximately 4 inches by 12 inches. And there are 2 of them on the block so the city may feel that 96 square inches is appropriate warning for a block of parked cars but it seems woefully inadequate for the draconian results of parking there after 3:30. Furthermore, the new parking kiosk in the middle of the block where you pay for your parking spot is not situated near either sign nor does it tell you that you may not park there. It simply does not accept your money which causes most people to think it is not functioning (and in fact many do not) and people walk away. What will happen then is that you will IMMEDIATELY get a ticket for $50 (I think) and shortly after that you will be towed.

When you return to your car and it is not there, you have until 6 pm to get to the city lot to retrieve it. If you don't, you are out of luck.

The finish of this narrative tomorrow.