placement of NO PARKING SIGNS Wednesday

**detroitbob** · June-25-09, 12:13 PM

Did anyone notice the placement of the no parking signs throughout downtown Detroit yesterday. Instead of the old format of red and black bold typefaces on white background attached directly on the meters, signs printed in black and brown were placed above eye level on the streetlamp posts. The easy pay kiosks were freely accepting cash donations and I saw one group park on Michigan and Shelby infront of the Lafayette building, feed the kiosk and start to walk in to Lafayette Coney...I honked my horn, rolled down the window and advised about the no Parking signs promising a ticket and tow. They got back in the car and drove off. Tow trucks were swooping through downtown like locusts on the barren fields of Brush Park. So, anyone care to "guess the revenue" from the fireworks tow and ticket festival?

**Detroitnerd** · June-25-09, 12:19 PM

I liked how they were worded, no parking starting at midnight. Um, WHICH midnight? They used intentionally confusing wording, and I don't think you have to be as cynical as I am to wonder if it weren't intentionally equivocal!

**detroitbob** · June-25-09, 12:33 PM

The confusing wording, and the sign placement...our city parking enforcement department weren't intentionally misleading the public...

yeah, right, and my cynicism isn't reaching new, higher levels. Bah Humbug!

**daddeeo** · June-25-09, 12:36 PM

Parking enforcement seems to be the only thing you can count on in the city.

**Detroitnerd** · June-25-09, 12:40 PM

Class Action Suit?

**Maxine1958** · June-25-09, 01:32 PM

Who paid for the new signs and paid to have them put up? Where did that money come from and whose pocket did it end up in?

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. So many questions.

**preserve** · June-25-09, 02:04 PM

I absolutely detest the Parking Enforcement Dept. The employees are the rudest people on earth. They take such delight in pouncing as soon as meters expire. I wonder how much money the City actually
makes off of the department. How much does it cost to maintain/insure all the vehicles? Pay the snots who work there? If we are continually having those 1/2 off days, why would anyone pay a ticket on time? How much goes uncollected? I think Parking Enforcement should be eliminated. Put a few beat cops in the areas where illegal parking can be a real
problem, like fire hydrants or crosswalks. We have no
major retail like the old days, and having these creeps in their little white cars lurking about make the City very user unfriendly.

**EMG** · June-25-09, 02:20 PM

I've been out of Detroit and out of Michigan for many years now, so Downtown Detroit is all a moot point for me, but nonetheless wherever it may be, having to pay for parking is a very hot button issue for me: I refuse to do it. As far as I'm concerned, free parking should be the equivalent of a constitutional right, and I've many times refused to patronize establishments because of paid parking or valet parking requirements. I'm sure I'm not alone in that and that the stance of me and people like me is something that people interested in promoting commerce in Detroit and elsewhere would be wise to pay more attention to.

**Detroitnerd** · June-25-09, 02:26 PM

Derail Alert

Debate over free parking in 3, 2, 1 ...

**EMG** · June-25-09, 02:40 PM

LOL!

Hey, there are reasons why places like Lakeside and even Eastland stay in business while downtown Hudson's, Crowley's and Kerns are but memories in Grandma's scrapbook and I don't think parking is all that far down on the list....

Blarf · June-25-09, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by EMG

As far as I'm concerned, free parking should be the equivalent of a constitutional right, and I've many times refused to patronize establishments because of paid parking or valet parking requirements.

While writing the Constitution, how did the founding fathers forget this important issue?

**Detroitnerd** · June-25-09, 02:45 PM

Oh, every few months a vigorous debate erupts over the benefits of free parking. Not to get too deep into it, but there are some surprisingly good arguments for eliminating free parking from some posters here.

DetroitYES!: Where the counterintuitive is confronted -- confrontationally!

**mbshan** · June-25-09, 03:23 PM

I too believe that these signs were harder to see. But, the real thing that bothers me is why isn't there anyone taking them down after the event? They will stay up until a good wind blows them down the street. Then you will see them until winter up against a fence or something until the snow covers them. You pay someone to put them up. Pay someone to take them down.

**detroitbob** · June-25-09, 08:46 PM

Talked to a bar owner today -- the establishment is in the heart of downtown, east of Woodward and he said that business was way off and they closed when the fireworks started and "got outta Dodge" to avoid traffic. He said that they should have charged $1.00 per flush for the bathroom users and they would have made more money than selling food and drink. We discussed the parking sign issues and he agreed that the posted signs were above eye level and tow trucks were busy.

**Swimmaven** · June-26-09, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by EMG

I've been out of Detroit and out of Michigan for many years now, so Downtown Detroit is all a moot point for me, but nonetheless wherever it may be, having to pay for parking is a very hot button issue for me: I refuse to do it. As far as I'm concerned, free parking should be the equivalent of a constitutional right, and I've many times refused to patronize establishments because of paid parking or valet parking requirements. I'm sure I'm not alone in that and that the stance of me and people like me is something that people interested in promoting commerce in Detroit and elsewhere would be wise to pay more attention to.

Good thing you don't live in LA.

They are still doing that, putting signs above eye level. I lived in Detroit from '71 til '84 and the parking goons would put the signs about 8-9 ft. high on a street light the days of the Gran Prix. I lived on the border of WSU. It's still a**hole land there.

**royce** · June-28-09, 05:15 AM

Last year I found a great spot to watch the fireworks behind the main post office. You could park on the street [[Jefferson) without a problem, if you got there early. This year I saw signs saying "no parking." That angered me so that I chose not to go to the fireworks this year. Later, I could see from the live reports on the fireworks that the crowd was down. Was it due to the heat or did many people come down and find their usual parking spot off limits so they went back home?

What was the City's intent on not allowing people to park on downtown streets when it knew that more people than usual would be coming downtown? Traffic control? Why wasn't this procedure in place years earlier so that people would know that you wouldn't be able to park on downtown streets during the fireworks? Did the City honestly believe that every car coming downtown could fit onto one of its city owned lots? Also, wasn't there a Detroit Tigers game going on on the same day?

This type of situation is what makes me so upset about how the City does things here in Detroit. The City seems to take joy in inconveniencing people. How many people didn't see the no parking signs and were inconvenienced when either they couldn't find their favorite parking spot or they came back from the fireworks and saw that their car had been towed away? I am convinced that the City saw an opportunity to bamboozle unsuspecting drivers and took full advantage of it. This my friends is just pure evil.

**ghein** · June-29-09, 03:12 PM

It's not all bad. I went to the Tigers game the day before, and they had already put up those signs on the meters. People seemed confused about whether or not you could park there, so we found open meters three blocks from Comerica an hour before the game. Woohoo!