By Dalia Diaz
It appears that everyone in the City of Lawrence is handicapped since city councilors are approving the handicapped parking like the drug companies were handing out prescription drugs. This week’s city council meeting had eight documents relating to seven new handicapped parking spaces request. I don’t think any other city has had that much-handicapped parking than Lawrence.
I believe that this rule/law is being abused more now than ever in Lawrence. I see individuals, walking very well, that have requested and gained disabled parking spots in front of their homes, apartments or place of business. Is this a new practice or a new way to survive? This city was not designed to house the amount of cars that we have now.
I have even seen handicapped parking assigned to a resident that its owners have a slew of garage bays in the rear of the building. Shouldn’t the handicapped assignment fall onto the building owners? Oh, this is also the same person that can walk, too. I have even seen her carry out the garbage cans to the curb – because operates a ten apartment building! She took the council as a sucker(s) in getting parking spots approved. Is anybody watching to end this kind of abuse? Does this landlord know someone who knows someone?
It also seems that the only thing that the city council does at every meeting is approve stop signs for intersections. When in fact what they need is to hire a firm that can do a street study and redesign the city. I am sure that the new councilor-at-large will eventually submit a requested ordinance for stops signs as well. Actually, I propose that the city council approve stops signs and/or four-way stop signs for every street in Lawrence. They have already made Lawrence worse with traffic, and they might as well finish it off so they can start concentrating on approving more important things than to appease their neighbor constituents or place responsibility where it lays – the police department not enforcing vehicle violations the way there are supposed to do.
Since I am writing about traffic and parking, I might as well inform City of Lawrence residents that most have received new information, via social websites, indicating that the city will allow vehicle owners to pay for off-street parking using a phone application. It’s a great app that will allow vehicle owners to save time and minimize effort. Let me remind you that Marc Laplante and Dan Rivera rejected such a plan when the city was looking for an alternative. Both of these politicians were elected to the council then. They were part of the committee that made the decision when we got the parking meters. At the time, they thought parking by space was too high tech for our city residents.
Conversely, that is not the reason that the City of Lawrence has put this modernization out there for use. The real reason is that the current kiosk pay systems have expired operational life and are basically useless. Laplante and Rivera knew that by the time the contract expired they were going to be obsolete and then the city had to make a decision to install new ones. More than 60% of the kiosks are inoperable at one time or another through the day leading to parking being a hassle or truly upsetting car owners. They need to be replaced because they are too old. In a city that has harsh weather and very little sun is a miracle that they have lasted this long.
I have conversed with parking employees and they have told me that the mayor does not wish to spend money updating the kiosks in any future contract bid. The cheaper way is a phone app. I don’t think there is a system that tells the walking parking attendant who has paid via the app – that cost too much money for the city to invest.
My question now is, what happens with people who are not computer literate or do not have a smart telephone?
Once upon a time, when the overseer presented and demanded that the city install these devices in order to collect more funds to operate the city (in the name and by taking money from the poor), a recommendation was made that the application and kiosk be that as the parking system of the City of Lowell where one can pay for the parking assigned space from practically anywhere.
The staffers that we had then went to Lowell and Manchester, New Hampshire to meet with the city officials there. They came back and brought companies to make presentation to the council. The council with the mayor made the decision for these kiosks but politics sure has a way of screwing the people/public for money and to hire political constituents as parking attendants. And that they did! All of them had one sign holder hired as an attendant. Now they all forgot they are still there and we are here paying for their deeds. Good luck trying to draw down on a union now.
