Responce to Michael Donovan's recent post

City Councilman and Allentown Parking Authority Board Member Michael Donovan recently posted this blog entry: Parking Ticket Fines ... below are my thoughts:


@STREET CLEANING:
Wow ... you're my hero. Except for the fact that Street Cleaning in Allentown is COMPLETELY UNNESASSARY! I've spoken to several people in the Allentown Streets Department as to why they do so much redundant street cleaning and within a day found a reasonable solution that would eliminate all the parking havoc caused by the current method. I then presented that solution to the Streets Department and never got a response to my endless follow-up calls. Next I presented a case for a performance audit of current Street Cleaning methods to the City Controller and "surprise surprise" I got no response. The fact of the matter is; that a reasonably priced upgrade to the city's water system would solve MANY PROBLEMS, but the current method that involves two city departments following each other around for countless man hours and requires every citizen to move their car off the streets in a city that is already hard-pressed for parking seems like the cheaper, easier and more logical way to go, right?


@DOUBLE PARKING:
Because some grumpy old man at the Morning Call wrote one of the worst, one-sided, articles about double parking ever (Paul Carpenter: Double-parking plague infects city); you're going to raise the fine? (I see no mention of enforcement, just rising the fine; which will actually accomplish nothing) Now, I admit some people double park in a very inconsiderate manner ... they park in the middle of the street then leave the vehicle sitting, while others, pullover, do a quick 'drop-off' to let a passenger out who may have a heavy item or child/children with them, etc.. But to simply punish EVERYONE is not the answer because it doesn't address the problem.

The REAL problem is; THERE IS NO PLACE TO PARK! This is an ENORMOUS FAILURE on the part of the Allentown Parking Authority. With that said I would like to add; WOW YOU HAVE NERVE! YOU HAVE FAILED AND NOW YOU WANT TO FURTHER PUNISH THE CITIZENS OF ALLENTOWN FOR YOUR FAILURE!?!? I am very very very un-impressed.

There are only and handful of solutions to the city's parking problems and they are clear cut:

1) The Allentown Parking Authority must buy land, build parking lots, and offer free parking to residents to alleviate congestion.

And/Or

2) The City and the Parking Authority need to work together and not allow houses to be converted to apartments in areas with little or no parking. Furthermore they need to convert some of the multi-family buildings back to single homes.

Raising fines to give the 'appearance of action' does NOTHING to actually solve the problem.



@TRUCK RESTRICTION:
THIS LAW IS MORONIC! If a truck is parked on a city street in a manner that obstructs the flow of traffic and is a danger then give it a ticket. But to simply BAN a truck from parking anywhere is stupid! This is clearly something that falls into the "We have To-Many-Laws category" since other laws already address any REAL PROBLEM that could occur from an oversized vehicle being parked on the street. All this law does is punish and inconvenience people who happen to drive a truck. (PERIOD)


@MULTIPLE TICKETS:
Every once in a while you do something that will only help bring attention to the fact that Allentown Parking Authority is out of control. When we have a city full of hard-to-ignore, big-yellow-boots, on every car, truck, SUV, baby stroller and ambulance; people will start to take a good long look at how the APA is run and I can assure you they will not be pleased.

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For more information on the Corrupt, Wasteful, Hypocritical, Nuisance that is the APA visit this site about the Allentown Parking Authority

Protest the Allentown Parking Authority on Wed. Sept. 23, 2009 at 4pm

Come One, Come All! To what may just be the greatest show on earth! The Wednesday September 23, 2009 - Allentown Parking Authority Board Meeting at 4pm! I'll be there (with a few others) to amaze and astound you! It will be a board meeting like none you've witnessed before! Chock-full of News Worthy information the general public WANTS TO KNOW! While it may not be the Jerry Springer Show; Tempers will Flare and that always makes for entertaining news, right?


Where:
"The Circus" AKA - The Allentown Parking Authority
1005 Hamilton Street Allentown PA

When:
Wednesday September 23, 2009 at 4:00pm

Why:
Because it's way overdue

What to bring:
A Camera! You're going to want to watch this over and over again!



BTW, Did you know the Allentown Parking Authority IS a privately owned "FOR PROFIT" business? (Don't believe me? Go ahead; call them up and ask them: 610-437-3366 / http://www.allentownparking.com/contact.php)


I'll be pointing out things like:

• How it’s a bad thing for the Allentown Parking Authority to boot and/or impound a car used for medical emergencies (because they were obviously too stupid to figure it out on their own)
  
• How Tamara Weller (the Executive Director) is like an out-of-control manager of a Burger King!
  
• How spending OVER $53,704.00 for a website is a HUGE F'n WASTE OF MONEY! (and this is just one example)
  
• How the Allentown Parking Authority should use Public Transportation (What a waste of money for them to buy all those cars when we already pay for buses ... not to mention their carbon footprint)
  
• How the parking authority should be considered a Public Nuisance (if your Bar or Nightclub needed police assistance as much as they do, you wouldn’t be in business very long)
  
• How the Allentown Parking Authority rarely provides a service to YOU ... the citizens (demonstrated by the low number parking complaints vs. the large number of parking tickets)
  
• How the Allentown Parking Authority targets low-income families
  
• And so much more!

DON'T MISS THIS SHOW!

Where:
"The Circus" AKA - The Allentown Parking Authority
1005 Hamilton Street Allentown PA

When:
Wednesday September 23, 2009 at 4:00pm

PS - For those who find this post after Sept. 23, 2009 ... don't give up! Fight for what is right!

The Allentown PA Parking Authority Sucks!

The Allentown PA Parking Authority is a business that targets low-income families for profit (period)

Need Proof they target low income families? Ok... Click Here

How much profit? AT LEAST 5 million dollars annually (but I've seen a report of 19 million recently). Need Proof? Ok... Click Here

If you think they HAVE to give out this many tickets... you're wrong!

A large number of tickets are given out due to "Street Cleaning".

Street Cleaning closes down 25% of Center City parking for several hours 4 days a week in a City that is AWARE OF THE FACT that there are not enough places to park already.

The City claims it "has to" street clean because of regulations from Fed. & State Government with regard to pollutants that enter into the water supply via street drains/gutters so their hands are tied.

HOWEVER! Allentown's water filter system is archaic!

Solution: Take the MILLIONS the Parking Authority makes and re-invest it into replacing the gutters with newer ones! This would eliminate the need for all the redundant street cleaning, solve the parking problem and make more citizens happy and less inconvenienced!

If you agree with the proposed solution above then call this guy at the Allentown Dept of Public Works and rip into him: Richard Young - 610-437-7587