METER UPGRADES
The Collar City will soon be rolling out upgraded parking meters
TROY, N.Y. >> The city of Troy will soon be rolling out upgraded parking meters. The 50 or so parking meters will be dispersed throughout the downtown Collar City core.
“So this is a part of the plan that was introduced about a year ago by the economic development office and the planning office in response to the parking study that was completed a few years ago,” Troy Deputy Mayor Monica Kurzejeski said of the phased implementation.
“The biggest thing for us right now is to make rhyme or reason of where meters are located. So what we’ve done is we’ve tightened up the footprint of the me- ters [so] they are essentially within the business district itself, the commercial core of the business district and made rhyme or reason of where they were placed,” Kurzejeski noted of making sense of the placement of the meters. “Previously they were on one side of the street, but not on the other, on some streets, but not on the others, so we really just tried to make it consistent throughout downtown and that was the key to it.”
According to Kurzejeski, the plan also enables more f lexibility for motorists, enabling them to park for four hours, rather than being limited by two-hour restrictions.
While some of the machines are a decade old, don’t necessarily judge a book or in this case a me-
ter by its cover.
“We provided upgrades to all of the cabinets so the interiors of them, the mechanics are actually all brand new. They’re going to have brand new batteries, new credit card readers, new functionality which we were having issues with in the past which we wanted to rectify too. In addition to placing more meters throughout the core, we also wanted to make sure we upgraded the existing boxes we had as well too,” Kurzejeski noted of the technological tune-up.
As part of the phased approach, motorists will be able to pay by an app in 2019 as well as the city attempts to make sure everything is working seamlessly.
“Within this next year we’ll have it is a feature as well,” Kurzejeski said of the pay by app. “We [are] also looking at online permitting too, so that instead of coming to City Hall to buy your permits you can actually apply right online and be approved online too. We hope to roll those two things out in 2019.”
The city will also give drivers a grace period as they become accustomed to and aware of the new parking setup.
“What we’re going to do is a little bit of a grace period and issue warnings and let people know there are changes in the parking downtown and we just want to make you aware that you need to pay the meter. So it’s an education awareness kind of piece we’re going to do for a few weeks just to get everybody acclimated to the new system,” Kurzejeski said of helping people ease into the new parking system.
To paraphrase the late New York Yankees great Yogi Berra, like a restaurant that “nobody goes to anymore because it’s too crowded,” John Salka, spokesman for Troy Mayor Patrick Madden calls the growing demand for parking a welcome problem.
“We know obviously change is difficult, espe-
cially when it comes to parking and in what is now known as a really vibrant growing downtown. We see the increased demand in parking as a happy problem, it demonstrates the growth of our city, the success of our small businesses, the local economy and the restaurants and boutiques and bars that are here in Troy and the residents. So there’s obviously interest in living downtown and operating business in downtown Troy and Troy in general. So we want to make sure any plans add to the vibrancy and the walkability of downtown as well,” Salka noted of how the increase of traffic means positive things for the Collar City.
For those wanting more information and updates on parking downtown, you can visit TroyNY.gov/parking.