This app does seem confusing and the laws are obviously vague. Personally, I'm just glad there are a handful of free spots in the urban basin that Cranley hasn't found out about yet.

My head hurts after reading the last 10 or so entries.  All of this over parking?  Makes me want to go back to good old quarters and dimes.....

 

Seriously Cincinnati, get your sh^t together.

 

This is one of the strangest posts on UO I've ever seen. Legitimately can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. Makes no sense.

 

A couple people are confused & thought you could do something illegal. You can't. What does that have to do with Cincinnati getting its shit together? It's no different than covington's pay by phone. 

This app does seem confusing and the laws are obviously vague. Personally, I'm just glad there are a handful of free spots in the urban basin that Cranley hasn't found out about yet.

 

They are not vague. It is not confusing. Re-metering is illegal. Why do people suddenly think it's legal?

I just paid a parking ticket online and the receipt is from [email protected]

 

Somehow Xerox still got a piece of the business of parking enforcement....

 

It's possible that the city signed a deal directly with Xerox to install & manage the new meters, just modified the deal to (1) remove the Port Authority from the equation, and (2) use City employees instead of Xerox employees to enforce meters.

 

That's just my speculation though, does anyone know for sure?

Full Cincinnati Council Vote This Week On OTR Parking Permits

The full Cincinnati Council could vote Wednesday on a plan to establish a residential parking permit program in parts of Over-the-Rhine.  The Neighborhoods Committee approved the proposal Monday. 

 

Mayor John Cranley vetoed a similar plan last year.  But now it supposedly has the support of six council members, which is enough to override a veto. 

http://wvxu.org/post/full-cincinnati-council-vote-week-otr-parking-permits

What do you know... the city's plan to implement new kiosks and meters that accept credit cards ended up costing more than expected. So we still got the higher meter rates, and we still have to deal with "decapitated" parking meters around the city, but we get none of the benefits of the parking privatization deal proposed by the previous administration. The Port Authority lost their source of funding, and 4th & Race got downsized and delayed for 4 years. Another "legacy" of Cranley's productive first mayoral term.

City Council passed a residential parking permit plan for Columbia-Tusculum today. So at least three neighborhoods (possibly more?) now have residential parking permits in place but we can't pass one for OTR. So residents of some urban neighborhoods should enjoy convenient on-street parking, but the parking spaces on OTR's streets should be primarily for visitors to the neighborhood.

Well OTR has the streetcar. Park up in the brewery district and streetcar down to your place. Other neighborhoods don't have high frequency neighborhood circulators running through them. That said, I'm not against permit parking in OTR, especially with all the new parking garages being built or proposed that should provide more than enough visitor parking.

My fiancee has a house in CT and this was a surprise at first, but then I saw this covers a very limited area. It's really just a measure to keep Jeff Ruby's customers from hogging all the street spots during peak times. The OTR plan was quite a bit different as it covered the entire neighborhood.

 

Council OKs parking plan for Columbia Tusculum street

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/16/columbia-tusculum-street-could-get-parking-permit/93960494/

 

The permit affects 10 homes on Walworth Avenue. They would cost $30 a year. The restricted parking hours would run from 5 p.m. to midnight every day.

 

The process to set up a residential parking permit area seems pretty straight forward so long as the neighborhood in question is predominantly residential. OTR is different in that the area covered was going to be much larger than anything currently in existence, and that area was mixed used, unlike the 2 (now 3) zones in existence that are almost entirely residential.

I am surprised that there has both never been neighborhood parking in CUF and that the area hasn't been ravaged by tear-downs for small parking lots.  Yes, there are a fair number of small parking lots where there were once houses (maybe 25), but the general historic character of the area is intact.  Perhaps the guaranteed parking space is a motivation for people paying the huge rent at any of the new apartment complexes. 

 

I have never been to a community council meeting for CUF but I'm sure that the matter has been discussed in the past.  It just seems as though the extra parking enabled by the W. Clifton hill and the radio tower between Warner and Emming provides just enough extra on-street parking to keep a total crush from existing.   

Even if CUF asked for it, I don't think the city would do it because they have little political weight, being mostly students. Kinda like how Northside has been asking for traffic calming for years and it was ignored by the city, until someone was killed on Hamilton Avenue and the media started covering the safety issue, forcing the city to suddenly add speed limit signs, repaint crosswalks, etc.

The City is raising rates for monthly permits at most downtown garages:

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/30/rate-hike-coming-city-owned-garages/97245788/

I have noticed a ton of parking enforcement officers on Main Street and side streets in OTR over the last few weeks. I feel like almost every time I go outside or look out my window, I see a parking enforcement officer ticketing a car that didn't pay the kiosk. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that illegally parked cars are being ticketed, but weren't people complaining in 2013 that we would get "aggressive enforcement" if the parking system were privatized? Well, we didn't technically privatize the spaces, but we still outsourced the enforcement to Xerox and they seem to be aggressively enforcing the laws.

I was ticketed on Sycamore while my spot was actively paid. How? Apparently it's illegal to display an expired KY license plate while parked on a public street in Cincy. The registration sticker was in my glove box awaiting a non-salt coated license plate in the spring. ?

Interesting, though they don't seem to care about anywhere outside the basin.  There's always cars parked during rush hour restrictions on Woodburn near DeSales Corner, and on McMillan or Taft.

I've noticed that too.  Enforcement in the basin is relentless, but try to drive through Mt Lookout Square at rush hour and the no-parking 4-6 lanes are blocked and no tickets

Isn't it always illegal everywhere to drive with an expired tag?  You're probably lucky you went that long without a ticket.

Isn't it always illegal everywhere to drive with an expired tag?  You're probably lucky you went that long without a ticket.

 

True.  A coworker of mine got a ticket in Mariemont that was issued just after midnight the day the registration expired.  That means the cop found the car beforehand and then stalked it.  Talk about misplaced priorities.  On the other hand, while new residents are supposed to register their vehicle and get a new license within 30 days, if your out-of-state documentation is still current, there's not really any need to rush. 

I was pretty ticked off we did a late morning breakfast then 2 hour walk in downtown a couple Saturdays ago.  Was literally 4 minutes late to my car from when the time expired, already had a ticket issued with a time of 1 minute past the expiration time on the meter.  Then they double the ticket price I think if you don't pay within 10 days

The Xerox cops don't mess around!

^I understand I was late to getting my car I just couldn't believe how quickly they issued the ticket like they were sitting and waiting for it to expire.  I am sure they have monitors on when it is getting late then they go check and if the car is still there they wait until it runs then immediately write the ticket.  It was crazy. Never seen that before.

 

I once got a ticket at campus at the University of Northern Iowa, I had to drop off something in the drop box just inside the door.  I parked my car in the permit lot which was across the drive from the building, there was no one parked there.  I ran into the place to drop it off, came back and the meter cop was there writing me a ticket.  I argued but they still gave it to me, then I complained and they wouldn't do anything.  Well I never paid that damn ticket and they withheld my diploma.  Completely forgot about it then a month ago got a call from the registrars office saying they had my diploma and were sending it in the mail, just got my diploma about 5 years to the date of my graduation ;-)

It's got to be easier to enforce the tickets in the basin because there are so many more spaces in a small area. 

 

 

 

Yes, and that means efficiency and profit! Whereas before it was about minimizing negative impact toward society. A lone car blocking a travel lane on Taft during rush hour got ticketed since it caused congestion and could result in an accident. But that's unprofitable since it is only one car.

I was pretty ticked off we did a late morning breakfast then 2 hour walk in downtown a couple Saturdays ago.  Was literally 4 minutes late to my car from when the time expired, already had a ticket issued with a time of 1 minute past the expiration time on the meter.  Then they double the ticket price I think if you don't pay within 10 days

 

I had the same thing happen to me on Main a few weeks ago. I got to my car 5 minutes after the "meter" expired (actually I paid via the app), and the ticket was issued 2 minutes before I got there. I wonder if the kiosks and the app are wired to some app that the Xerox employees have on their smartphones, where they can tell that a nearby car's meter is about to expire. If so, they could just go wait by that car and ticket it the minute it expires if the driver isn't there.

What's funny is the streetcar haters get upset when a police officer doesn't check streetcar tickets, but hate when they themselves get a ticket at an expired parking meter. 

Because fare evading is something poors do. Parking tickets are something the rich get.

Earlier this week I paid for a 30-minute parking meter on Court St using the app. Right after I paid and the app immediately switched to show me how much time I had left it showed 28:45....

^this is how the app works.  I think it subtracts the time you spent logging in and paying.  Can't even get a free 90 seconds!

How long are you allowed to be parked on the street for free while engaged in the process of paying for parking? For example if you stand there for 10 minutes trying to download and set up the app for the first time, could they ticket you because you haven't paid yet?

^ I looked that up once before. The code just says you have to pay "immediately," which seems rather impossible at first, but I assume the act of walking over to the meter or pulling out your phone is part of the paying process.

 

Sec. 509-5 - Parking in Metered Spaces or Spaces Requiring Payment.

 

(a) Spaces controlled by meters. Whenever a vehicle is parked in a space at which a parking meter is located during hours of limited parking, the owner or driver of the vehicle shall, upon entering the vehicle in the parking space, immediately pay the required fee by any method accepted by such meter.

 

 

From Chris Seelbach on Facebook:

 

 

As John Cranley says, "you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts."

 

Here's some facts:

 

The Enquirer - Cincinnati and Kentucky planned to run a front-page, Sunday edition story today on parking optimization in Cincinnati.

 

The story proves Cranley and his administration have not optimized our parking system, as promised. In fact, only about 30% of it is used, losing tons of revenue that could have helped fill out budget deficit.

 

When Cranley got light of the story, he was furious (being published two days before the Mayoral primary).

 

Given his "temperament issues," he reached out to the Cincinnati Enquirer's leadership...and guess what?

 

They pulled the story. At least until after the election.

 

They let the bully win.

 

These, my friends, are facts.

 

Some are predicting the turnout for Tuesday's primary to be as low at 16%.

 

Can we change that?

 

I'm tired of the games. Lets vote.

 

Yvette Simpson for Mayor.

 

 

He added on Twitter:

 

We hired Xerox to do optimization. But admin has not directed them to take that step, losing revenue that could have helped balance budget.

 

If meters aren't being used (and many aren't) price needs to be lowered. Where meters are most used, price increases.

 

 

When the new parking plan was rolled out, the city talked about how we were going to have "dynamic" meter pricing, but in typical Cranley fashion, they dropped the ball. Meter prices have not been adjusted (to my knowledge) since it was first implemented. The city (or Xerox, apparently) need to be actively managing these meter rates to make sure utilization is around 80%. Drop the prices of meters that are underutilized, raise the price on blocks where there's never a free space.

In the City Manager's latest budget proposal, he proposes increasing parking tickets from $45 to $60 and increasing parking meter rates by 25¢.

Is it the city proposing it or Xerox?

The city is proposing it in order to close a budget deficit.

I distinctly remember the city having a budget surplus just a few years back. I know Cranley hired some more police officers, but is that single action the reason we are now in a deficit again? Remember all his talk about getting a "structurally balanced budget"? What a fool that man is.

Just another manipulatior handed something good and ruining it. It always happens.

Pretty sure it was council was the one's who wanted and did spend the surplus on a bunch of pet projects.

I distinctly remember the city having a budget surplus just a few years back. I know Cranley hired some more police officers, but is that single action the reason we are now in a deficit again?

 

Pretty much.  Cranley is a demon and somehow all of the "independent-thinkers" out there can't figure it out. 

Pretty sure it was council was the one's who wanted and did spend the surplus on a bunch of pet projects.

 

Such as?

 

The current budget deficit is because Cranley went over the City Manager's head and negotiated huge raises for all of the unionized city workers.

From Chris Seelbach on Facebook:

 

 

As John Cranley says, "you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts."

 

Here's some facts:

 

The Enquirer - Cincinnati and Kentucky planned to run a front-page, Sunday edition story today on parking optimization in Cincinnati.

 

The story proves Cranley and his administration have not optimized our parking system, as promised. In fact, only about 30% of it is used, losing tons of revenue that could have helped fill out budget deficit.

 

When Cranley got light of the story, he was furious (being published two days before the Mayoral primary).

 

Given his "temperament issues," he reached out to the Cincinnati Enquirer's leadership...and guess what?

 

They pulled the story. At least until after the election.

 

And 3 weeks later...

 

Parking contractor recommendations ignored

 

Four years after the City of Cincinnati killed a plan to privatize its parking system, the city is paying the same company hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to run the system -- but ignoring many of its recommendations. 

 

New Jersey-based Conduent is paid by the city to maintain meters, oversee enforcement and make pricing recommendations based on data collected.

 

Those pricing recommendations aren't just about revenue: Smart pricing keeps a city's economy humming. Prices need to be low enough to fill the spaces, but high enough that they parkers don't linger all day - so a person can find a space near the restaurant, shop or business destination they’re headed into. And in parking systems that get pricing right more spaces are used, which, in turn, brings in more money.

 

Cont

Sooooo, we still got all of the downsides of the parking privatization plan but none of the benefits. And yet people don't even remember that cancelling the parking plan was Cranley's #2 campaign promise.

Does anybody know the current status of the "parking modernization" that is supposed to be happening around the city? There are many parts of OTR where one side of the street has pay-and-display kiosks while the other side still has traditional parking meters. It is really confusing for visitors. It seems like the city took one step towards eliminating parking meters and replacing them with kiosks, and then abandoned the project.

Ahem and Kiosks that take 35 minutes to read then go out of order....

City Council passed a residential parking permit plan for Columbia-Tusculum today. So at least three neighborhoods (possibly more?) now have residential parking permits in place but we can't pass one for OTR. So residents of some urban neighborhoods should enjoy convenient on-street parking, but the parking spaces on OTR's streets should be primarily for visitors to the neighborhood.

 

Another residential parking permit program is being proposed for the West End as part of the FCC stadium deal. So we will have at least four urban neighborhoods in this city where residents get to enjoy on-street parking permits. Meanwhile the OTR residential parking plan was passed by City Council twice and vetoed by the Mayor both times.

I think that they're going to have to put up barriers on game days to keep people from parking and cruising around City West. 

The city is proposing another hike in parking meter rates. (screenshot via Chris Wetterich)

It's just mind blowing to me that no one is calling out Cranley's hypocrisy on this issue. Cranley railed against Mallory's parking deal, saying that "hours of enforcement will be extended until 9 p.m., which will hurt restaurants and Reds games," and then after he got into office, he extended CBD/OTR enforcement hours to 9 pm. He complained that "parking rates are going to increase by at least 3 percent per year" and yet, since he got into office, he has now increased parking rates way more than 3 percent in popular neighborhoods. In CUF, Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout, and Northside, rates were 50¢/hour in 2014 and will now be raised to $1.25/hour, which is a 150% increase over 4 years. I can't find an article that mentions what Downtown and OTR parking rates were in 2014, but they will now rise to as much as $2.75 in parts of the CBD and $2.25 in parts of OTR. All of these increases are an order of magnitude above what Xerox would have been allowed.

City Council passed a residential parking permit plan for Columbia-Tusculum today. So at least three neighborhoods (possibly more?) now have residential parking permits in place but we can't pass one for OTR. So residents of some urban neighborhoods should enjoy convenient on-street parking, but the parking spaces on OTR's streets should be primarily for visitors to the neighborhood.

 

Another residential parking permit program is being proposed for the West End as part of the FCC stadium deal. So we will have at least four urban neighborhoods in this city where residents get to enjoy on-street parking permits. Meanwhile the OTR residential parking plan was passed by City Council twice and vetoed by the Mayor both times.

 

How much do residential permits cost?

 

Related, if the city is looking for a funding stream they should tax all surface lot revenue at 25%. That'll push more people to use street parking or switch to other modes, and it'll push lot owners to consider redeveloping their space into something more useful.

It's just mind blowing to me that no one is calling out Cranley's hypocrisy on this issue. Cranley railed against Mallory's parking deal, saying that "hours of enforcement will be extended until 9 p.m., which will hurt restaurants and Reds games," and then after he got into office, he extended CBD/OTR enforcement hours to 9 pm. He complained that "parking rates are going to increase by at least 3 percent per year" and yet, since he got into office, he has now increased parking rates way more than 3 percent in popular neighborhoods. In CUF, Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout, and Northside, rates were 50¢/hour in 2014 and will now be raised to $1.25/hour, which is a 150% increase over 4 years. I can't find an article that mentions what Downtown and OTR parking rates were in 2014, but they will now rise to as much as $2.75 in parts of the CBD and $2.25 in parts of OTR. All of these increases are an order of magnitude above what Xerox would have been allowed.

 

Also, note that parking enforcement hours have now been extended to 11 pm on Thursday to Saturday in OTR south of Liberty.

 

All the pain, none of the gain.