[Faye Morrison]: Good evening, and welcome to the West Medford Community Center community meeting with the Medford Parking Department. My name is Faye Morrison. I'm the director of the parking department. And tonight, my group has put together a great PowerPoint presentation that hopefully will explain to everyone how parking works. There's been a lot of confusion. People think that we can tow cars. They call for that. We can't do that. We can't enforce anything but parking. So if someone is breaking the law on your street, trespassing, using illegal drugs, anything of that nature, you need to call the police. That's not what my folks do. We strictly enforce the parking rules that the city already has. We didn't invent any new ones when we started. I haven't invented any new ones when I started. The only thing that we have set in place is some policy that is different. I know it's been a culture change for everyone to get used to, but the reason why those rules are in place is to make sure that we are keeping the streets as open and as free as possible for the permanent people who should be parking there. Some of the streets are smaller than There are permits issued for that street. It's always a challenge. And so it's important for us to make sure that the people we're giving permits to and visitors passes to live in the city of Medford and pay their excise tax here and are committed to this community. There have been some folks who have been unhappy that they couldn't give visitors passes because they don't have a proper license. But having that correct information is not just about the visitor's pass. It's also about communicating. If we get mail back, you don't know maybe that you got a ticket that blew off your car. And now you go to the registry and your car is on a registry hold because you don't know about it. So it's important that we have accurate information so that we can reach out to you when we need to. So tonight I hope that you will take in this presentation We always have an email address which they will share with you if you have any follow-up questions after this presentation But thank you for your attention and we'll start with the clerks presentation Good evening.
[SPEAKER_04]: My name is Justin, right? I am one of the parking clerks for the city of Medford and Next. Mission statement. Our mission statement is the city previously outsourced parking enforcement and permitting to a third party who remedied a percentage of the revenue back to the city based on the prior year collection. Based on the work of the Mayor's Commission on Parking Policy and Enforcement that completed its work in Spring 2021, the City decided to bring parking operations in-house beginning in the fiscal year 2022. The parking director is responsible for leading the department, working directly with other members of the administration, including the mayor's office, police department, department on public works, the director of traffic and transportation, as well as other stakeholders to implement and develop a new parking policy structure and operation based. Based heavily on commission findings. how to use the city website. So, first off, when you get to the city website, you'll go to medfordma.org. You'll go to the parking department. Once you get to the parking department, this page will pop up. Now, you can either pay a ticket. You can hit the link to pay a ticket, obtain a permit, see city alerts, the contacts for the parking department, different permit information, so on and so forth, also parking maps. Next. Requirements for parking, requirements for applying for a permit. All parking permits and visitor parking permits are valid for a period of one calendar year, starting January 1st to December 31st. All residential parking permits require a city, sorry, a Medford resident on a valid Massachusetts certification of registration. If the mailing address is different, the Medford Street address is required to be printed by the RMV and the garage address. Business parking permits require a valid certificate of registration and a document with proof of the business name and Medford address. When obtaining a permit in person, please bring a current valid registration with your Medford address printed by the RMV and Massachusetts driver's license. Parking permit costs may vary depending on the type of permit requested. So how to apply for a permit online? You will go to the parking portal by GTECDA. To create, so first you will create an online account, use your email address and create a password, then you will add a vehicle, and then buy a permit online. After that, you will, after that, how to reset your password, you just send an email to the parking department at parking at Medford-MA.org, dot gov. Different types of permits. Residential and commuter parking permits. Residential parking permits cost $10. Residential commuter permit cost $100. Permits issued to Bedford residents to park an approved vehicle on a designated street of the city and authorized area. The parking department cannot issue a variance without documentation from the Traffic Commission. Senior residential parking permits are free. You must be 65 or older to be able to get the free permit. For senior and meet a permit, that's the citywide, cost $25 and you must also be 65 or older. Business parking permits cost $100. A permit issued to park at a designated parking space on the street and municipal lots and designated business parking spaces. City Hall parking lot permit for employees is free. Next. U.S. postal permit, it is also free, so anybody who is a U.S. postal mail carrier can get a permit to park free on any designated street in the city. Visitor parking permits, now, they are free to residents who have a permit already, and for seniors. If you do not have a permit, they are $5 each. And to replace them, you will have to buy them again. How to appeal and pay a ticket. So both appeal and ticket process are available online and in person. The appeal process is to correct a mistake made by the parking control specialist. Tickets issued by the parking department are supported by GPS marker, time stamped, and pictures taken at the time of citation. Log into the ticket portal to view all of the evidence. How to appeal online. A ticket appeal must be submitted before 21 days has passed, which starts from the moment of issue. An appeal determination will be made within 10 business days. You will go to the ticket portal, which is accessible on the Medford website. You will put in the ticket number first, and then you will put in the license plate number that is on the ticket. how to appeal a ticket in person. The appeal process is to correct a mistake made by the Parkage Specialist. Tickets issued by the Parkage Department are supported by GPS marker, timestamp, and pictures taken at the time of citation. Log in to the ticket portal to view all the evidence. A ticket appeal must be submitted before 21 days pass, which has started from the moment issued. An appeal is determined within 10 business days. An appeal must be, to do it in person, an appeal must be legible, handwritten, or typed letter to the parking department, room 110, Medford City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155. Must contain the ticket number and the return address for the determination. Please include all supporting evidence and pictures. You can always log into the ticket portal to view the status of the appeal. So, how to pay a ticket a person must have at least one of the following information and documents. Ticket number and ticket vehicle plate number. How to pay a ticket online. Credit and debit cards are accepted online. However, after the 21-day appeal process has expired, late payments can only be paid at the parking department window with cash or money order. You are supposed to money order. Online ticket pool. Oh, it's the same information, but again, you can input the ticket number, then input the plate number, then you'll get all the information that you need for your ticket. How to request to owe parking ticket information. Bring the ticket, ticket number, or ticketed vehicle plate number to the parking department room 110 at City Hall. Send an email to parking at Medford-MA.gov and upload a picture of the certificate of registration for the ticketed vehicle. Contact the traffic department. Contact the Traffic Department at 781-393-6404 for information about street parking for events and gatherings, traffic commission questions, vehicle towed for street cleaning and snow removals. Contact Department of Public Works. You can contact DPW at 781-393-2417 for information about a pod or canister on the road to report or fix potholes and other road hazards and to fix and install signage. the parking department's earnings. The parking department has generated a substantial increase to the city's general fund. In answer to the city's finances, and this accomplishment was achieved within one year of operation. All right, and next we will have the PCS. One parking question I have. What payment methods are used in City Hall for a parking permit?
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Am I answering your question or am I asking a question?
[SPEAKER_04]: Answering my question. What payment methods are used in City Hall for a parking permit? Choose one, cash, check, debit or credits, or all the above?
[SPEAKER_05]: All the above.
[SPEAKER_04]: No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah. All the above.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. So she gets the bag. Because we do have a kiosk that we take the bag. So here's all of you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, you win a bag. Yay.
[SPEAKER_05]: So she can ask the question.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: You can hear my voice. They want to hear you on TV. I don't want them to hear me on TV. OK, question. This is in regards to the senior permit that you get. Oh, I'm sorry, honey. This is regards to the senior permit. At the end of, almost before the end of last year, before you were converting over to City Hall, down at Republic on Main Street, I went down and I got a senior permit pass. But as I look on the little shield that's on my window, it says expiring the end of January of this year. Now, help me out here.
[SPEAKER_04]: 2023.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Excuse me? Yes.
[Faye Morrison]: No, it would have to be December 31st, because we didn't have a contract with them after January 6th.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: So then why did they take my $25?
[Faye Morrison]: That I can't answer. But you would have had to renew January 1st, 2023.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: So therefore I would have been paid in $50 then. If I would have renewed it again, which I didn't know because I was told, and I won't mention who or where I was told, I was told that if I renewed at the end of that year, 2022, 2022.
[Faye Morrison]: You would have to come to City Hall and renew, and that permit would be good until the end of 2023.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: That's the question that I'm asking here that was not told to me when I went down. No, no, no. What I'm saying, I didn't finish my statement. What was not told to me when I went down to Main Street.
[Faye Morrison]: I can't answer for what Main Street told you. I can only tell you what it is.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: So therefore, the question that I'm asking now again which I'm going to have to go pay another $25 down to City Hall in order to get a new thing.
[Faye Morrison]: All I can say to you is that in December of 2022, when we no longer had a contract with Reef Republic, they should not have been taking money from us.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm sorry, but they did, but that's okay. So another question that I'm asking then is, The question that I'm asking then is, I'm going to have to come down to City Hall and get another permit, pay another $25 to get a permit. That's a yes or no question. Yes. OK. Are there any other questions on the table? Oh, I do have another one. Since I'm here, and since all of you nice people are here, and all these nice gentlemen, that young gentleman over there, and this young gentleman here, and a couple of you other ones, we're down here, we're down here, we're down here at the end of last year when we did something, when you donated some money to the community center. Faces I don't forget, so behave. I know I'm being weird. I don't know if this is for your department or OK, whatever. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude to you, honey. I don't mean to be rude. I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_04]: You're not rude.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_04]: You're just asking questions.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry. Regarding the trash cans that are out front right now, is that your department? Otherwise, OK, I'm all done then.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have George from the PCSs.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks, Justin. My name is George Bernosky. I'm the Enforcement Supervisor for the City of Medford, along with my other PCS, Joe, who is here as well, and two that you haven't seen, well, you probably will see them tonight. Matt, who is out right now working till midnight, and Octavius, who is our overnight guy. He works from 3 to 11 in the morning. So, basically, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about enforcement, what we do, why we do it. And in addition to that, some of the pitfalls that some people have encountered, we've encountered in the last 15 months here. And could we pull up my slides? Thank you. And thank you for calling me young, that's really nice. I'm turning 61 this year and I. Oh, my son doesn't say that. down there. Thank you. Thanks, Jim. Okay. And like I said, this is our enforcement page here. Joe, go to the next slide, please. We're going to talk about a little bit about enforcement, what we enforce. There's a public safety aspect of it that's really crucial and very important here, because this is the reason we're really doing this. We're going to talk about the Traffic Commission, which, again, most folks don't know, but they make the laws and policies for where variances come from, where you can park, what you do. Pretty much, you know, it's pretty straightforward. And the most important one, quality of life. We're going to discuss that as well a little bit further on down the road. Next slide, please. The primary focus of the parking department is to ensure compliance with city and state parking regulations. Basically that means anything that we're going to hit you for is going to be something that's been in the books and been on the books is an ordinance that is something that we have to enforce. We do enforce residential parking permits Metered parking which you've been seeing the new meters in the squares in any place else where they are and time parking which would be us chalking a vehicle Coming back at the end of a one hour two hour three hour period and if they're still there haven't paid We can hit them for a ticket violation Again work there's a current list of all the things that we cite for on the parking department web page I provided the link there as well But dedicated, consistent parking enforcement results in a higher level of parking space turnover, which is important. It's also important, provides many positive results, which I mentioned before, like public safety, vehicle turnover, and the quality of life. Next slide, please. It's the most important reason to control the parking is safety. It's usually necessary even when spaces aren't limited, okay? You might see that a little bit more in the squares. You might see it on your street. I've come down here before because we've had to get your handicap spot. which we're pretty vigilant about, we're pretty serious about those. Hydrants, bus stops, all of that stuff is why we have it for a public safety aspect of it. Next slide. Some of the examples, I didn't list it on here, but I'll go over it at the end. Blocking a fire hydrant, blocking an accessible spot or a ramp. You've got parking in a fire lane, that was a real good one, because I did one at City Hall not long ago. Parked across the sidewalk. And I have people in certain neighborhoods, won't say where, who believe that they are above the law around some of this stuff. They're not. Parked across a pedestrian crosswalk, that's a no-no for us. We're gonna get you for that no matter what. 20 feet from an intersection, in other words, if you're too close to an intersection, a car, public safety, emergency vehicle, they can't make the turn. So we would cite you for that. Double parking is a definite no-no in this department. And we will hit you, and we will hit you hard, okay? And this is not just for the residents, it's also for the business community, because they have to comply as well. And one of the ones that's not on there, that I'm a stickler for myself, is wrong direction. and we'll go into that at some point later on, I'm sure. The Traffic Commission regulates variances, signage and designation of permanent streets, and a nice one, private way requirements, which is about 32% of all the streets in the city of Medford. And those are streets that the residents take care of their own wall to wall is what they're going to do. We have no business being on those streets and we will not be on those streets. So if somebody called us from a private way and said, listen, I need you to come down here, spot this car and tag it, take it and tow it. That's just not what we're going to do. Next slide. And this one is kind of a big one, guys. Medford parking does not target any vehicles. In other words, you can't call us and leave me a message and say, I need you to come down and get the car that's down on my street because they've been here for three days. And I just, I can't live with myself if they're not gone. So we don't do that. We don't tow vehicles. As we've mentioned before, the traffic commission in concert with the police department will tow vehicles. Okay. So you'd call the traffic department within the police department. So you've got a vehicle, a nice man named Sergeant Rogers, We'll come down, look at the problem, and if he's doing his job, towing the vehicle. When we are patrolling, which we do, the whole city, all four of us, we will find infractions. When we find things that are wrong, whether it's a residential permit, whether it's too far away from the curb, whether it's inspection stickers, and again, you can go to the website and see all the different examples of this, of what we ticket, what the fees are, and what the fees would be on top of that ultimately. We strive for all residents and guests to have access to convenient, safe, and reasonably priced parking as often as they can. This applies to merchants as well, their employees, their customers, and the general public. We also know this is not always possible. However, through consistent and uniform parking enforcement, we can usually accomplish this. So thank you for helping us to make that happen. Next slide. Department looks forward to serving the residents and the business community to provide effective and useful enforcement to all the citizens in the city. So how can I help, guys? Any questions you have? Oh, no, no, no, no. We can't have that. Come on now. You can tell me. Give me your best shot. What you got?
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Previous questions, you said the say, for instance, if a Car is parked or whatever, et cetera. Someone cannot come to you and say, you know this.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, again, we would prefer that you not do that, because that's targeting. In other words, we're going to patrol all of the city streets the same way. And perhaps my predecessors, if they had done that, things might have been a little bit different around here, and I'd have a different conversation with you guys right now. But the reality is, We're not targeting. We're not going to be targeting. We're going to hit the whole city. We'll find violations. But we are short staffed, so we do the best we can with what we've got to work with. But there is not going to be targeting. So if you call, say that the car is here, that would be something you'd call the police department about. You'd call the traffic commission or the traffic commission within the police department and say, I've got a vehicle that needs to be towed. Can you please help?
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: You did say something. This is the traffic.
[SPEAKER_02]: There's a division inside. What's the difference? Well, I mean, the traffic commission is just a five member panel. They make decisions on things like variances to streets, who's going to get a permit, whether the street's going to have permit parking. All of that's decided by them, not by us. In addition to that there's a traffic division within the police department that handles towing vehicles Looking into situations and ticket as well I've been checking my I've been checking the system and they've been out in full force the police department our brothers in the police department Target hitting all the city streets for street sweeping. So because that's another component of this. Okay, so they've been doing their job and And all I can really tell you is we'll hit what we can find, but we will not be looking at specific vehicles. It's going to get out of hand if we did that, and we're not going to have that. We can't.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: So you have been in your department for?
[SPEAKER_02]: Since January of 2022. Since January.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: So I can't fault your department then. But that business about targeting, we were targeted.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was targeted. Ma'am, I'm sure you were. I'm not going to dispute that at all. But I can't, as Fay had said to you earlier about another isolated thing, we're not even really going to be able to get into that because they're no longer here now, but we are. But if you call me and you want to talk to me about parking on your street, I'm happy to listen. But if you call me and tell me, you know, this car's parked, they're right in front of my house, and that's my spot, and by God, I want to get out of there, that's just not going to get a response from us, unfortunately. We'll patrol it. If we find something then, then we'll do that. Joe, you want to handle this last one here? Joe is going to do our question. We put a little visual thing up there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we just want to know if you can tell what's wrong with the picture.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to keep my mouth shut and let these ladies. Ka's going in the wrong direction.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect. You got the job.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I said, it's a big thing for me. I had to talk my own wife into doing the right thing. But once she realized that it's a law, she never complained about it again and paid the one ticket she did have. So at this point, I'm going to turn it over to the meter repair crew, Mike Biola. Mike, it's all yours. And that is why we're glad you're here. So thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: OK, good evening. My name is Michael Viola. I'm the foreman for the meter crew on the parking department. The parking department is split into parking enforcement and maintenance. We're on the maintenance side. And the clerks as well. The clerks work inside the office. I have two people that work with me. Raphael and Eddie, Eddie's not here with us tonight. But we maintain all the parking infrastructure in the city, all the parking meters, all the kiosks that you see. I'm gonna go through some slides to give you some payment options here in the city of Medford. And I just wanna take a minute to thank you for taking some time out of your busy lives to come over and listen to the presentation given by us. Next slide. So one way you can pay at a meter or a kiosk, anywhere in the city that's paid parking, they all will accept the same five methods of payments, okay? There'll be a quiz at the end. Five methods of payments. One, you can pay with coins at the meter, okay? Next slide. Credit cards. You can pay with a credit card at the meter or a credit card at a kiosk. We accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. No American Express. Sorry. Next slide. You can pay by telephone. Every meter will have a label. You'll see it on there. And every kiosk machine will have a label printed on it. And there is an 800 number on it. If you can guess, the 800 number is right there, 888-680-7275. You will get a physical person on the phone that can take your payment and vehicle information as if you just paid to park. It's one option. Next. You can pay by the website. paybyphone.com is our vendor. Hint, hint, pay by phone is our vendor here in the city of Medford. And they'll have a website that you can go on and pay. And there's also an app, and that information is listed right on the meters and right on the kiosks. Next slide. This is what the mobile app will look like. When you download the Pay by Phone app, you can get it on either Google Play or you can get it on the Apple Store. you'll have a nice picture of the Medford waterfront, okay? And it'll say, welcome to pay by phone. Now like any other app, when you get it and download it for the first time, you'll have to register yourself, put your information in there, you can put as many vehicles as you want, you can put as many payment methods as you want, but it'll be on there. And then after you pass that initial process, anytime you go and pay for a spot, all your information will be automatically on there. So you just have to choose the area and the time that you want. Next slide. I'm going to play a couple of videos here for you. So the videos will show one, it'll show how to pay at a meter, and the other will show how to pay at a kiosk. Okay, so it takes credit cards, that's how you pay right in the machine. You'll select a time, you'll press OK. It'll take your payment. It's also contactless payment. You can pay with your credit card, you can pay with a smartwatch, or you can pay with the app on your phone. Just like when you use a card when you go on the machine at any store. You can select your time, press OK. You can insert your coins. If you use your app, you can pay right on your phone and it'll show up. Sometimes it might not show up on the meter like that as paid, but it'll be on your phone. And when the pocket control specialists go by and run your plate, they'll see that your plate number was entered and it's paid. Okay. Technical difficulties. Okay. Same way here, it's the same options on a kiosk. These are what the kiosks will look like in the city. These are going to be the new ones that we're going to have installed. We're in the process right now of waiting to get them citywide. Most of your squares will have single meter heads like you see in Medford Square right now. And most of your parking lots will have all kiosk machines. These are multi-space kiosk machines. So very simple, you just go on, select your method of payment, you can select your time, press okay, it'll come up on the screen, it'll print the receipt if available. Now here in Medford, that receipt is for your records if you want, you do not need to put that in your vehicle, you can if you want, but again, the PCSs will run your plate and that's how we tell if you paid in what zone that you're in. OK, next slide. So to report a broken kiosk or meter, that's my information right there. I'm the foreman of the parking division at Medford City Hall. My phone number is 781-393-2501. It does have voicemail, so just leave a voicemail. If you have any issues with the meters or the kiosk, it's not working. I have some magnets over there on the board. Feel free to take them. And they're separated. It'll tell you how to report. a broken kiosk or meter. It'll tell you if you want to report a car being towed or a street sign on a street to be made. I said if your vehicle was towed, but there's three different options there. Feel free to take them. Next slide, please. No, one thing I did want to mention before was when you get to a kiosk or a meter, okay, the old adage was sometimes you would pull up and, hey, the meter's not working, free parking, great, I can go on. That does not fly anymore, okay, because like I said, we do have those five options that you can pay. So if a meter or a kiosk is not working, okay, whatever zone you're in, they'll have a zone number. Usually the kiosks are laid out within equal distance of each other, you can see them. If that one is particularly not working, not taking coins, you'll have to try to use a credit card or you'll have to try to use the app or call. You have to make, you have to try to exhaust all your options before you're just going to leave your vehicle and say, I'm not paying because it's not working. Because When you come and try to appeal a ticket, if you appeal it just saying that the meter was not working, that's probably not going to be an appealable case, okay? So if you're in a zone with the same kiosk number, just go to another kiosk and pay, because as long as you're in the same zone, it'll register your plate. So with that said, if you're in Medford Square and you pay, and then you pay for two hours, but you leave in a half hour, and now you go to West Medford, it doesn't mean that you're all set with not paying, because West Medford is another zone, so you have to pay there as well. There's five zones in Medford. West Medford, South Medford, Medford Square, Haines Square, and then the Tufts Hillside area. Okay, that's all set. With that said, any questions? Okay. No problem. I also want to get in on the prizes. So I'm going to ask this young lady a question right here. I mentioned we have a vendor in the city that handles the payments. What is the name of the vendor? Yep. The vendor that handles the payments for the meters and the kiosks.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Hint, hint. Paid by phone?
[SPEAKER_01]: You got it. Paid by phone. Thank you very much. Let me see what you won here. Take this beautiful bag right here. Thank you. Before I end my presentation, I just want to introduce Mark Burling here. He's from IPS. He's just going to run through a quick little check on the machine to show you how it operates so you all can get to see it in action. These not have not. So the Medford Square has been all transitioned over to single head meters on the street. The parking lots still have kiosks. Every other square still has kiosks on the street and in parking lots. We are slowly transitioning every square over until they're all completed. But all those old workhouses are going to be out and gone, and these are going to be put in. There's just too much maintenance on them. There hasn't been enough upkeep on them before we were handed them, and it's just not feasible to keep them running. So we'd like to make the process a little streamlined, a little easier, more user-friendly for people to use. So that's what we're going with. We're just in the process of waiting to get it all done. Mark.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Mark. Thank you. So the pay station or kiosk, as some people call them, as you saw in the video, accept multiple forms of payment. And one of them is coins. So you can put in your coins, and once you put in the coins, assume it's $1 an hour, each coin will give you a 15-minute increment. So if I put in two coins, I'm going to get half an hour. Three coins, three quarters of an hour, and four coins a dollar. I can also use a standard credit card, and I can put that into this slot here. Or if you have either a credit card that accepts, it's called wireless, I guess. It'll have a little wireless signal on it. You'll just tap that up against this reader, and it'll recognize the credit card. You won't have to put it in the slot. You can also use an Android or iOS device that has NFC enabled, that's near field communication enabled, to do the same thing. So again, a credit card that has that feature or an Android or iPhone. And those are your different forms of payment. So you'll notice here there's a little placard that says press any key to start. So by design, it's in sleep mode to maximize the battery life. So if I click on that, it'll say, press any key to start. So I can press a key. And then it's going to ask me to enter my plate number. So I can enter my plate. I can hit OK either on the touch screen or on these physical buttons. And it will default to some value, whatever the city has chosen. And I can hit the plus or minus key. So if I want more time, I would hit that. Then I would hit OK. And then it's going to ask me to insert my payment. Confirm a dollar. I can confirm it. And then I'm done. In this case, it's printing out a receipt, like Mike said, and you're all set. Like I said, you do not need to put them in the dashboard anymore.
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: The question, what both of you could probably answer, say, for instance, like you said, I'm there, I'm at the meter, and I say, OK, I'm going to be here for a half an hour. And I put that coinage in for half an hour. But appointment runs late and everything. How would I be able not to get a ticket because I haven't put enough money in the meter?
[Faye Morrison]: Use pay by phone.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Is that what it is?
[Faye Morrison]: Yes. If you use the pay by phone app, you can Add more time from wherever you are.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: But question though, what if? What if I didn't use the pay-by-phone and just use money?
[Faye Morrison]: That's the question.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Answered the question. There you go. There's your question.
[SPEAKER_01]: The pay-by-phone app, too, will also have a feature where you can opt into, if you want, for an additional charge. It's minimal. That'll send you an alert, a message like, hey, you have five minutes left. You have 10 minutes left. And you can just up it right on your phone. But even before those days, people would run late. They would run back out to the meter. And that's still the option if you choose to do that. But if you can't reach the doctor's office. Right. You would rather just do that on your app and make sure you have it up and running.
[55_y5dUe6B4_SPEAKER_01]: Hey, you guys are really good. You answered every question that I wanted to ask. You gave me a good, valid answer for it, and I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I do. I really do. No, I think I'm all good. I think I'm all good. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_02]: You guys have been a great audience.
[Faye Morrison]: All right, well, I want to thank my crew. for being here tonight and putting on this great presentation. I want to thank Mark, who was at a trade show all day, who came from a trade show and came here so that For the folks in the room and for the folks that are watching from home, you can see what the new infrastructure is going to look like and just how easy it is to use. And we're, as Mike said, we're going to be doing this, and our hope is, during the spring and the summer, that we will get the rest of the city done so that everybody will be on the same system. which will make things easier for the meter crew who have been struggling this year with just keeping what we have running. And that's difficult because we want to make sure everybody, when they go to a meter or when they're using our parking, that it's a good experience. That's what we want. So we're getting there. You know, what we have done in just a year I just did a case study for because it just doesn't happen. It takes a long time to get a parking department up and running, usually 18 months to two years. So the fact that we did it in about four months, with some shady resources in the transition, and that most of my staff survived it, is a testament not just to me as the director, because I couldn't do this without all of the people in this room. It would be impossible. And I've relied on them very much with the support of the mayor, the executive branch, Jim Silva, and a lot of other people, because we have a very technical office. In that building, we're probably operating on a background system. You know, there's no paper in our office. It's all electronic. And so that's new for City Hall and it's been a challenge for them to keep us from blowing fuses. Literally. But, you know, we're getting there and we're trying to, you know, encompass technology, translators, body cameras, things of that nature that make everything more smoothly. But, you know, we're always open to respectful, critique and suggestions, we might not be able to do everything that is asked. As George said with the targeting. of people calling up and saying, plate number so-and-so is on my street. I want you to come check it out. Well, at first we would do that, and then we would find this person was fine. So because we don't display permits anymore, I think it makes people nervous that they can't tell if someone should be there or not. Sometimes there'll be plates that are out of state that are legitimately permitted to be on the street because they've got a special variance to do so. So what I ask for people is to be patient, Let us do our job. I think we do. I watch the heat maps. I can tell where everyone is. And every day. Through those three shifts, we're doing the city. We really are. Could we use more resources? Absolutely. But we knew when we opened that we were going to have to rely on traffic to help us close those gaps until we had every staffer on board. And that's not as easy as it sounds either. I mean, you have to make sure people can pass Corey checks and do all of those things. So it is a slow, deliberate process of building up the department. But like I said, with the support of the mayor and the executive office, we are getting there. And we are better off today than we were a year ago. And I suspect that we'll be better off a year from now than we are today. And we're always looking for innovative new ways to make service better, i.e. IPS, which was recommended by the mayor's commission on parking. to use, and so I'm happy to be working with my old friend Mark, bringing this great technology, solar power technology, which also falls in line with our green policy on board. This year we're looking at finally buying vehicles instead of renting. Those will all be hybrid as well. staying in line with the city's green policy. So we're marching forward. We're going to keep doing the best we can with the resources that we have, and we're going to get better and better with time. So I thank you that came tonight, that were here. I hope the folks at home found some value in what we had to share. And again, I want to thank my staff for taking very seriously all of this and putting together these great presentations. So thank you. And good night.