Back in November 2021, the Common Council considered a resolution whose goal was "to ensure that all city streets on which parking is allowed have parking spaces that are clearly delineated with painted stripes." The resolution, which was initiated by Councilmember Malachi Walker (Fourth Ward), made these claims about the benefits of designated parking spaces.
WHEREAS, the lack of parking in the City of Hudson is an on-going and increasing problem; and . . .
WHEREAS, the lack of clearly delineated spaces results in less efficient use of the available parking and creates confusion for vehicles owners seeking to park legally; and
WHEREAS, painting lines for parking spaces would result in a more efficient use of on-street parking by eliminating unevenly parked vehicles, providing more net space for parking and avoiding conflict amongst vehicle owners.
At the meeting on November 8, 2021, when the resolution was introduced, the Council decided to table it after DPW superintendent Rob Perry argued that painting parking lines would actually reduce the number of potential parking spaces and it would cost $64,000, an amount that had not been written into the budget.
At Tuesday night's meeting of the Common Council ad hoc Parking Study Committee, Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward) used the same arguments found in the 2o21 resolution to support the notion that defined spaces should be eliminated altogether. She noted that the defined parking spaces are much larger than they need to be. That is the case not because, as Councilmember Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) suggested, the size of parking spaces was dictated by the Department of Transportation, but because the size of the parking spaces was determined in 1968, when the city's zoning code was adopted and cars were longer than they are today.
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The 2021 resolution, which was never voted on, argued that "painting lines for parking spaces would result in a more efficient use of on-street parking." At the ad hoc committee meeting on Tuesday, Morris argued the exact opposite: eliminating defined parking spaces would result in more efficient use of available on-street parking. Of course, with or without defined parking spaces, the real challenge is getting people to park efficiently.
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OMG! Are you kidding me?! We can't even agree on something as simple as painting lines for parking? Seriously.
ReplyDeleteDPW can't even keep up maintenance (repainting) of all the metered parking space lines downtown (just go look on the 700 block of Columbia). Adding more lines might be helpful for a few years, then they will all fade away, as will the issue.
ReplyDeleteWhat's really bizarre are the parking space lines in front of the houses along Carroll Street, which DPW does seem to maintain. The Armory building is surrounded by lines on 5th, State and Short, which were installed by Galvan, according to Rob Perry.
Why at these locations and nowhere else?
Morris is correct. Painted lines for parking spaces don’t account for modern automobile sizes, require time and money to maintain that could be better spent on other infrastructure needs, and are really only meaningful under the current meter system which requires a clear visual link from parking space to meter for enforcement.
ReplyDeleteIf Hudson wants to move to an electronic payment system for parking, perhaps concomitant with parking passes for residents to allow for surge pricing on weekends for visitors, painted parking spaces are inefficient and unhelpful.
Having said that, I have seen firsthand on many occasions extremely thoughtless spacing between cars on Hudson streets without parking lines. A little PSA on best practices might encourage more mindfulness for residents understandably not attuned to spatial awareness.
Morris and Perry are correct. It's a waste of time and money. This is another example why we need a city manager with an education in urban planning and public administration... so they can shoot down dumb ideas like this that keep popping up on occasion. There's no debate, adding lines would reduce efficiency by forcing spaces to take up the highest common dominator. It can be proven with math: https://www.wellsandassociates.com/research/stripe-or-unstripe-curb-parallel-parking/ or https://perplex.city/parallel-thinking-b4076461ff60 . I understand this because I can think logically, but one can look this up in 5 minutes online.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't get this worrying abut how people park. Do you watch the street all day to see how people park? Just because there seems to be extra space does not mean one particular vehicle is the offender. People come and go and vehicle sizes vary. If parking is limited, people will squeeze in where they can. Car sizes are not uniform, each block is unique in curb space, and people come and go at different times. Why drive yourself crazy expecting perfection to a naturally random and chaotic system? Sure, some people suck at parking. That's not gonna change. That's what parking tickets are for.
No, I don't think we need to waste more tax dollars on a city manager to make simple common sense decisions - like painting unnecessary lines.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of things that need fixing, the bridge, the Furgary mess, the sidewalks, the city is already paid to manage these projects. If they can't do the work, elect someone else. You don't need to pay some else to do it.