Thursday, January 30, 2014

Benched!

I haven't seen this done in a while.  It's illegal, but I understand the motivation to do it.  After shoveling out a parking space, you don't want to just give it away.  On the other hand, how can you justify keeping the space unavailable the whole time you're not there?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I marked my parking "spot" for many years and firmly believe in doing so. One cannot return home and take someone else's space, where will that person park? A car is large...where can you put it, if all spaces are taken. Let alone if you already worked for an hour to shovel the space. I can completely understand the anger people feel when someone else takes a spot that they worked to shovel.

Anonymous said...

i agree too.....happens too often..lazy inconsiderate ppl take ur space after you spent hours shoveling....wrong...
solve this problem by having 1 parking space in front of each address in the boro reserved for that address only......

Anonymous said...

I've been saying that for years, every address should have one parking spot on they've street. I've paid taxes here for years and most of those years I had only one small compact car for my address yet neighbors had 2-3 cars per address. My blood would boil even in dry weather when I came home from a long workday only to hunt a place to park.

Anonymous said...

all roads in Columbia should be metered

Anonymous said...

anyone need a free bench?

--FMB

PS.. Parking spaces should be auctioned off if we aren't going to keep them 100% public. I have two properly registered/insured trucks. I should be able to buy 2 spaces at least. Maybe 3. Keep a little space between them.

Anonymous said...

guess what???? probably half these inconsiderates are renters and the landlord has no parking provided. Bull.... the space at EACH and every property address in boro SHOULD have that space ONLY for that address. My neighbor with 5 cars will have to rent garages or something. I don't really give a s---.

Anonymous said...

Meters are designed for places with lots of people and businesses to increase parking turnover (and revenue, to be honest). Since Columbia has no businesses and the population is decreasing,, it is foolish to have meters anymore. Scrap them. You never see anyone parked at them during business hours anymore. And they can just increase the $treet $weeping schedule (or fines) if they need more revenue.

--FMB

Anonymous said...

guess what???? Then that's a landlord issue.

What about properties that have more than one space in front of them?

Maybe your neighbor with 5 cars would be willing to pay MORE for the space in front of your house (and on a PUBLIC street) space than you. A good borough should not turn away the opportunity for increased revenue. So if he wants to pay more for that space than you, well, you are SOL. YOU can go rent a garage for your compact car.

--FMB

Anonymous said...

meters are the only solution, if people have to plug a meter at least half of them will go away. yes, it's a pain for people that are willing to plug the meters - but it's the lesser of all evils and the people that are willing to plug the meters are more likely the property owners and not the poor tenants

Anonymous said...

It interesting that some people think they own the parking in front of their house. When I go to visit someone and can't find parking because everyone puts some crap out to save "their" spot. where am I suppose to park? It doesnt make sense. Usually I have to move the item. I would suggest that the problem is that people have to shovel out their car so they think they are entitled to the spot. What if during a snow storm all cars could not be on one side of the street and the plows could plow up to the curb on that side. This would solve some of the issue.

Anonymous said...

no meters past 5th st.....
i agree that THE PARKING SPACE DIRECTLY IN FRONTOF EACH ADDRESS SHOULD BELONG TO OWNER OF PROPERTY.....maintenance on the curb, sidewalk and gutter are the HOMEOWNERS RESPONSIBILITY AND TAXES ARE ABSOLUTELY KILLING THIS BORO....look at all the vacant props...foreclosures..tax and sheriff sales.....it gets worse everyday....
...as a homeowner i would pay a fee to have a guaranteed parking spot at MY property. ALL the hundreds and hundreds of rental properties are killing this boro....we need to turn them back into owner occupied properties. quick.

Anonymous said...

it's too late - single family houses are being gobbled up by a few out of town landlords and they have no intention of selling - only renting. Maybe it is not a bad idea to jack up their taxes. and charge higher fees to have a rental license on a single family house - like at least $1,000. per year per unit. How many thousand is that per year for the Borough ? Force them to raise their rents and the higher rents will force them to find better paying tenants and fix up the property to better suit the better tenant.

Anonymous said...

how does $1550. one time fee - plus $240. per year sound for a residential rental license in this little town in Michigan compared to ours ? I'm sure that some are higher across the country

http://www.cityofeastlansing.com/Home/Departments/BuildingCodeEnforcement/RentalHousingInformation/HousingLicenseInspectFeeSchedule/