15 minute parking spots

Do people think Maplewood would benefit from a designated short term parking area?  

On a regular basis there are some really poor choices made by drivers picking up people or food (Uber/Lyft, Door Dash, parents, etc).  What if Inwood Place became a row of spots for short term parking?

Thoughts?


I honestly don't think it would change anything. People would still double park "for just a minute" while they go into the Trattoria or bank machine and still park in that first spot which is not a spot.

Also, frankly, we rarely have all of the present parking regulations enforced to any meaningful degree.


If the 15 minute spots aren't near where the drivers making "really poor choices" want to pick up, they're not going to be used by them.


The problem is it's a zero sum game. You can make the case for some 15-minute spots and perhaps more handicapped spots, but the people who don't use them will feel it works against them. S.O. has this and you still seem to have people who constantly complain about parking there.

I think what we need is greater understanding and acceptance that the village isn't always going to be a place where you can park directly in front of your destination.


Note to Self: 

Dear Self, Stop taking it personally when you see someone parked in a crosswalk (with their blinkers on to, ya know, make it ok) making a left into a parking space (in front of a sign that sez not to) or is holding up six other cars while waiting for a spot.


apple44 said:

. . . I think what we need is greater understanding and acceptance that the village isn't always going to be a place where you can park directly in front of your destination.

 I accept that and actually prefer to park a few blocks away from my destination since I sit so much at work. Like @steel, I sometimes take others' misbehaviors personally and wish that I could get everyone parking illegally on Maplewood Avenue to accept it . . . I guess this is a perfect example of a "first world problem"


It would be useless without enforcement. The same entitled people who "park like tools," or make illegal turns on Maplewood Ave to go into the parking spaces, would recognize that 15 minutes doesn't apply to their S.U.V., Beemer or Lexus.

They have important things to take care of.


One, people around here are lazy f'ers and they will still illegally park.

Two, the Town won't enforce 15 minute parking spaces. They would probably roll by a couple of times a day.  


How effective are the short term parking spaces we have in front of the post office?  Is parking there monitored/enforced effectively now?  If these spaces work, expanding the practice might be worth consideration.  If not, we need to consider whether an ineffective practice needs to be expanded.  The other thing to consider is that the town is trying to attract customers to the Village.  Most of these customers spend more than 15 minutes at a venue, shop or restaurant.  The Op's proposal would further reduce valid parking, making the double parking, illegal parking, standing/idling problem even worse.  Expanding mass transit (senior bus stop is hardly ever used now; 32 bus which used to stop in the Village was discontinued years ago), encouraging those who can to walk to/from the Village, expanding delivery options for purchases made in Village shops, etc. would be a more effective way of dealing with perceived parking issues. 


joan_crystal said:

How effective are the short term parking spaces we have in front of the post office?  Is parking there monitored/enforced effectively now?  If these spaces work, expanding the practice might be worth consideration.  If not, we need to consider whether an ineffective practice needs to be expanded.  The other thing to consider is that the town is trying to attract customers to the Village.  Most of these customers spend more than 15 minutes at a venue, shop or restaurant.  The Op's proposal would further reduce valid parking, making the double parking, illegal parking, standing/idling problem even worse.  Expanding mass transit (senior bus stop is hardly ever used now; 32 bus which used to stop in the Village was discontinued years ago), encouraging those who can to walk to/from the Village, expanding delivery options for purchases made in Village shops, etc. would be a more effective way of dealing with perceived parking issues. 

They work pretty well except there are never seem to be enough of them. I don’t know if that means that some of the occupants are parking longer than posted, but not getting caught, or if they just need more.


If there NEVER seem to be enough of them, they are not working.  The idea behind having short term parking spaces is to have them available when someone needs to make a quick stop.  



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