The Frustrations Of Parking
Parking meters, coupled with the ever-stricter traffic-law enforcement, can easily be called the bane of every drivers existence. While they were put in place to serve a legitimate functionearning city revenue and controlling trafficthe effect that they have on business owners and drivers can be extremely negative. Drivers who cannot find parking or functioning meters and are regularly ticketed are less apt to pull over and make a purchase.
It is a real deterrent to a shopper to feel like they cannot park without being ticketed or cant pull over briefly to the curb to load and unload their purchases. Malfunctioning meters can also lead to a different problem: over-parking. Most people are not aware that the law states that the maximum time that its legal to park at a broken meter is only one hour.
"The problem is youve got a couple of meters here that are broken and people park all day," said Joe Caracciolo of First Choice Electronics in Bayside, who thinks that the lack of parking puts off potential customers.
In major commercial hubs throughout Queens, business owners and shoppers alike are extremely concerned with the speed of the meters. "I think they do run fast. I always keep an eye on them," Caracciolo said.
Just How Fast Are
The Meters
The Queens Courier staff checked the rates of meters in Bayside on Bell Boulevard, in Maspeth and Middle Village on 69th Street and Grand Avenue and in Howard Beach on Crossbay Boulevard. The staff chose three meters on each of three blocks along Bell Boulevard between 43rd Avenue and 38th Avenue. One meter on the northbound side of the street between 42nd and 43rd aves. was clocked on three occasions and found to be five minutes fast each time. One block further down two of the meters were clocked as fast on two occasions, one for eight minutes, the other for three. On the southbound side of Bell Boulevard between 38th and 39th Avenues, all three meters surveyed were, on average, five minutes fast.
The same types of surveys were performed at the other aforementioned locations and the results all lead to the same trends in parking meters: they do not give motorists their full time.
There are certain areas in the borough that have implemented the use of muni-meters, the most notable being the busy shopping stretch along Austin Street in Forest Hills. Merchants along the strip say that when people have to walk to the muni-meter, buy their time ticket and then go back to their vehicle and actually place it on the dashboard, they are less likely to stay for the day. merchants agree that this does allow for more of a consumer turnover, but for service businesses like restaurants and hair salons the inconvenience can keep some customers away.
Out On The Streets
One traffic agent, who spoke to the Courier on the condition of anonymity, said that he actually sympathizes with people sometimes. "There are some people that I feel bad to give a ticket to. You just know when you see them that this money might hurt them. But I do my job anyway." When asked if he thinks the meters are fast from his experience, the agent smiled and said "I saved up one thousand dollars for a Movado watch and it dont tell the right time neither."
In Bayside, Rob Grunin, owner of Celebrity Cleaners on Bell Boulevard, worried about what the citys increasingly strict parking law enforcement was doing to the economy.
"Last week or so a customer pulled up with five full laundry bags. I told her to wait and I would come out and help her. When she got back in the car, an officer started writing her up a ticket. There was no bus coming but they didnt care. Theyll pull up, block people in and write them a ticket," he said. "Customers dont want to come to Bell Boulevard Its not worth it to pay the high penalties of a ticket."
Speedy meters aside, some, such as Marty Levine, the owner of 1/2 Off Cards on Bell Boulevard, believes that even with the problematic meters, the real problem is simply finding a spot.
"They should build parking lots because there are so few spots to be had. The DOT should also be more lenient as they give people tickets even when they are in their cars. With the horrible parking situations people face, business is affected," he said.
