By: Diane Benjamin
Another item on the agenda tonight is spending $910,155.73 for new automated parking equipment at 3 garages: Market, Lincoln & Pepsi Ice Center
The Pepsi Ice Center garage is in its 11th year of operation and the Downtown Task Force wants to tear down the Market Street garage, but those are just minor details. (ha)
See PDF page 168 for documentation: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15356
Read the paragraph below and see if you can tell what data is missing?
Since the documentation above this paragraph says the current technology was installed in 2005 and is now obsolete, can we assume in another 10-12 years the City will be replacing it again?
What piece of data is needed to decide of spending close to 1 MILLION dollars is worth it?
Read the last line of the paragraph. It says “substantial revenue loss”. Is that $50,000 or $500,000 or $5,000,000?
Shouldn’t the Council know if they are voting to spend more than the anticipated revenue over the life of the new equipment?
If the City wants people downtown:
Why are they charging them to come?
Will anybody ask what the revenue is now?
Exactly, Diane! If you want people to visit Downtown, why add another expense? The Downtown Task Force is a joke. Imagine if the members invested as much time on growing and enhancing their businesses, as they do lobbying City Hall for taxpayer money. Downtown will only get better if the businesses Downtown give consumers a compelling reason to shop there.
Details, detail, Details…all minor details.why should the public need to know these petty details.
Just be quite and pay the bills. One more petty question. Was this work let out for competitive bids?
Yes, but they only got one bid.
And how connected to one of the little darlings is that ONE bidder? They are a VERY incestuous lot.
Most people would have rejected one bid and tired to figure out how to get more. Not these clowns.
If all the systems are the same then use the parts from one to fix another. Open up the less used garage to free parking. Truly analytical thinking does not exist in the council chambers. Life here politically and economically speaking is a real BloNow.
They claim they have been using parts. Staff has to either work the gates themselves or get it fixed quick with parts that don’t exist.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with having attendants at the exits in little kiosks – it’ s a good thing in many ways – I don’t think I need to enumerate those ways to the “regulars” here – get rid of the non-person machines and replace them with real live people – people doing a job more necessary than the assistant to the assistant of paper shuffling – get rid of the assistants assistants and make them parking garage attendants, then could be useful. Some may say the machines cost less in the long run, but, Do they? Really?
I did a comparison years ago. Those live people cost more than the brought in!
‘I did a comparison years ago. Those live people cost more than the brought in!’
Of course I forget that while a private lot attendant may make like 9-10 bucks an hour a CITY or Goernment managed lot attendant would make double that most likely – I don’t know to be honest but if other salaries for similar work holds true that would be the case
benefits and pensions!
That too
But benefit and pensions are ok for pencil pushers, even those with less talent than that. My home town makes me sick.
I SEE a WHOLE different set of terms! Failure, obsolete and repair. What gives?? CANNOT these brainchild’s figure out that they are dealing with OLD facilities and like them should be REPLACED or just REMOVED! You WANT business downtown-FREE parking! NEXT! This is just a WASTE of minutes, time, and money on ALL levels!