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Friday, January 28, 2011

Diminished Services, Diminished Revenue.....To Pay or Not To Pay

     The day of the snow/freezing rain storm last week, I parked in the municipal lot behind Staples on E. Broad St. 
     After exiting my vehicle, I made an attempt to locate the number that identified the parking space I was occupying for the purpose of paying for my time while parked; I was unable to do so, couldn't find it. 
     The lot had not been plowed and the snow on the ground was frozen solid with ice on top. 
     Fearing I might receive a parking ticket for not paying a parking fee, I placed a call to Westfield Police headquarters.  After explaining my dilemma to the police dispatcher, my call was promptly transferred to the parking department. 
     After explaining the situation to the parking department employee, I was told not to worry about it.  I was informed that parking enforcement employees were not ticketing people due to the conditions.

     The picture shown here was taken at approximately 8:30 pm on Thursday night (1/27/11).  The picture is of snowbound meters on Quimby St.
     If you park your car at one of these meters, should you be expected to pay the meter fee?  Access to these meters is impossible for some.  If you don't pay the meter because you can't deposit a coin, would this be a valid defense in Westfield Municipal Court?  
     In a year where Mayor Skibitsky has claimed that there will be "no diminished services" in 2011, these meters should be accessible, but they are not.
     Any other year, the snow in downtown Westfield would have been removed late at night, after a snow storm, by DPW workers and transported to Memorial pool to be stored until it melts away.  Not so this year, a year where "diminished services" are a fact. 

It appears there will be "diminished revenue" for the town as well until the parking meters are accessible..

See related story by clicking on this link http://07090.blogspot.com/2011/01/double-talk.html

6 comments:

  1. I'm guessinh the town will expect the merchants to shovel out the meters

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  2. FREE PARKING FOR SHOPPERS AND EMPLOYEES. THANKS WESTFIELD!

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  3. dude, you gotta let it go. seriously, i clicked here thinking there might be some interesting content, but it really just seems like a huge bunch of sour grapes.
    ohhhhhhh......westfield, nj ...... the bastion of a great conspiracy.
    weak!

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  4. If there is something that you expected other than what you had found when you "clicked here", let us know what it is you expected. We will be happy to accommodate your request to blog on something that is not "sour grapes" to you. Any suggetions please don't hesitate to offer some ideas. Thank you for your constructive criticism.

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  5. how is this a story? FREE PARKING!

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  6. This ain't sour grapes. Keep it up. I can't get some of this info anywhere else. The info on your blog is ripe for the picking. JUICY, not sour!

    ReplyDelete