1:20 p.m. Kerrytown parking lot E-Z pay machine [E-Park] not working, Republic Parking employee trying to fix it. Line of people wondering what to do – wait to pay or leave without paying. Thirty minutes later city of Ann Arbor employee arrives in car at parking lot and starts writing tickets to all cars that had not paid. [Editor's note: This item came through just now during the city council work session on restructuring parking fines.]
Kerrytown Parking Meters
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I would hope that the city would forgive these tickets. Sometimes machinery breaks down, and adjustments must be made. When this happens in a structure or lot, one can just lift the gate. However, that is not possible in a self pay lot. So, ticket office – are you listening?
As a shop owner with windows overlooking the lot I have had 2 separate customers tell me in recent weeks that the officer prints up the list of expired times then waits around for the soon to expire meters to run down. Repeated numerous times throughout the day, I’d be curious to know how much money that particular lot generates in parking fines during a typical week. Some communities actually encourage shoppers to frequent locally owned small businesses (instead of the mall or Walmart) with free or lower cost parking meters. And less preditory enforcement.