Posted on 01/03/2019 8:02:08 PM PST by yesthatjallen
Cindi Eckis doesn’t have a smartphone, and she doesn’t want one.
“It makes my life simpler,” the Cheektowaga retiree said.
But sticking with her flip phone will make it tougher for her and other low-tech motorists to find a place to park along some streets of downtown Buffalo.
A new parking policy being rolled out by city officials adds parking zones where the only way to pay to park is through the Buffalo Roam parking app.
Blue "Pay by app only" signs went up earlier this week on Cobblestone District streets. "Pay from your phone," the signs read. "Download Buffalo Roam."
Eckis doesn't understand why someone should have to carry a smartphone to park on some downtown streets.
“I just don’t want to live in the Matrix,” she said Thursday.
Last week, the Buffalo Common Council unanimously approved Mayor Byron W. Brown’s “Downtown Parking Access Plan. The plan included doubling of metered parking rates to as much as $2 an hour, ending free parking on weeknights and weekends and adding hundreds of new paid street parking spots. The parking plan was met with an uproar of criticism, with more than 21,000 people signing an online petition started by a downtown restaurant worker protesting the changes.
On Wednesday, city officials offered something of a compromise — allowing free street parking to continue on weeknights and weekends when there are no major concerts, shows or games at major downtown venues.
The Buffalo Roam app debuted in May 2017. The idea was to provide a convenient way to pay at all of the city’s 3,900 on-street paid parking spots. The app also warns users when their time is about to expire with a text message 15 minutes before time runs out and gives them the ability to extend their parking sessions from their phones.
The app prompts users to input their credit or debit card information to pay the parking costs, along with an additional 10 cent fee.
Parking Commissioner Kevin Helfer acknowledged the Roam-only zones exclude some motorists.
"We don't have a system that can be everything to everyone all the time," Helfer said during a news conference at the corner of Perry and Mississippi streets Thursday.
Most people have smartphones, Helfer said. About 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone, according to a study released in February by the Pew Research Center. And for those people, the app is far more convenient than having to remember to carry around quarters or walk back and forth to a pay-and-display machine down the block to get a parking receipt.
ETC...
I had a Tracfone to carry in the car but never used it and let it expire. If I did much night driving, I’d prolly get one again.
Are they going to provide a “snow removal” app to go with the pay app? </s>
I no longer drive at night but was doing some when I got the first cell.
It was huge and had a pamphlet that was like a small phone book telling you where you could or could not use it,all over the USA. There weren’t cell towers all over the place then.
My,how things have changed.
.
.
So what happened, did the campaigns for the mayor and city council get bankrolled by the failing Apple corporation, which is desperate to sell more smartphones?
Just one more reason to take the bus, if you can. Who in heck wants to wallow in traffic jams to find limited parking options, if they can help it? As long as you can take a concealed weapon with you, the bus should be fine.
“I remember, back in my day, when we would circle around and around and around a block with our pockets full of nickels, looking for vacant spots, and then would put the nickels in the meters, and sometimes one of them would jam in there, so we would have parking tickets when we got back to our cars! And we liked it!” —Grumpy Old Man.
Do I get a free smartphone or do I have to pay money to a private for profit business before I can deal with my government?
“I love the computer, especially word-processing. For some of us who do constant editing and rewrites, it makes the grunt work of writing so much easier and less a distraction from the mental flow. I also like being able to see things and access information from all over the world that I couldn’t see otherwise.”
Agree completely.
I just refuse to be tracked by Google and whoever.
I was there for that.
I happened to stay home from work that day. Wasn’t planning it but the ride home the night before was so awful, I decided to take a call in vacation day.
I was about to go in but my ride had already left so I didn’t, and 15 minutes later, WHAM.
Never saw such a white out in my life.
We could not even see the house next door across those narrow little driveways with 3 feet of lawn next to the house next door. Couldn’t have been more than 10 - 12 feet between houses.
Toronto sent the Metro-Melter.
Do you remember how the movie “Cool Hand Luke” started?
From what I remember of the machine, it was pretty neat.
It drove down the street, loading snow in front, then melting it internally, squirting anti-freeze into the melt water, then dumping the water out the back to run down into the sewer.
I’ve just solved the parking problem. I bought a parked car.
– Henry Youngman
However, city government is now forcing people to download their app to deal with city government.
Is is progress? Is is more convenient? Is it intrusive?
If you have to pay to park, you are living too close to too many ‘Rats.
Nope,,,
Like Buffalo isn’t already an intolerant shithole.
Not if you believe in personal liberty.
A cell phone app is not legal tender.
:: Get ready to have everything you do monitored by your smartphone. ::
Oooops, too late.
02/04/2014
I remember seeing pictures of it working on the news.
I thought it heated the snow though.
Either way, it sure was effective.
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