During last week's Auburn City Council meeting, several city councilmen voiced concerns about the unanimous decision to install seven new parking kiosks in the new 93-space parking lot in downtown Auburn.
The new lot, scheduled to be complete in late August, is located in the old Colonial Bank and Auburn Bank drive thru-teller lots on Gay Street.
Councilman Arthur Dowdell thought the city's money could be better spent in other areas.
"I'd like to see the city's money spent more wisely, and I'd hope we would consider that," Dowdell said.
Assistant City Manager Kevin Cowper believes the benefits this new technology will outweigh the $215,740.96 price tag.
"This is a system that will cost more than just installing 93 parking meters, but we believe that it is worth the added expense to have more parking available to the public," Cowper said.
One benefit of the new kiosks, Cowper said, is the diverse payment options offered to the user, especially for college students.
"In terms of the meter technology itself, this is a much more advanced technology than a mechanical meter. The old meters only accept coins. The kiosks will accept coins, bills and credit cards," Cowper said. "So, it's much more convenient for the user. Not everybody has a quarter in the car. The younger generation doesn't typically carry a lot of cash, and they are more prone to using credit cards. So offering multiple methods of payment will encourage the users to feed the meters and comply with the law."
Kasi Davis, senior in Radio, Television and Film, is the manager at Wrapsody, located on downtown College Street. She said the different payment methods will make it easier for everyone to park.
"Parking downtown has gotten pretty bad. We've had customers come in and complain that they can't find parking. So it has been an issue," Davis said. "We have customers come in all the time that ask to exchange a dollar for quarters, which we don't mind doing, but I just don't think that a lot of people carry quarters around with them. So I think it will be much more user friendly."
The new parking kiosks will also make it easier for law enforcement officers to do their jobs.
"The metering system will enable our enforcement officers to better enforce the parking meter limits. They'll be able to get a print-out that will tell them whose time has expired and who is illegally parked. So it will be much more efficient," Cowper said. "We think there are a lot of benefits for installing this type of parking meter system from both the enforcement standpoint and the user standpoint as well."
Cowper said the kiosks will have a four hour time limit, instead of the two hour limit offered to the public now. He hopes the increased time allotment will make it easier for the employees and patrons of downtown area businesses to find a parking spot.
During the meeting, Councilman Bob Norman also raised the question as to how user-friendly the new system would be. While Cowper acknowledged there could be a learning curve, he didn't think the transition would be difficult.
"It will be a new system, so it will take a little bit of getting used to, particularly if you haven't used an electronic meter before. But really, it's not any different than using an ATM," Cowper said. "We set up a test kiosk in one of the parking lots downtown. Over the course of a couple of months we've talked to people who have used it, and we've watched them use it. We've seen what issues can crop up, so we've been able to tailor the system to take care of any difficulties that we've seen. So we do think that it will be user friendly."
Cowper estimates the new kiosks will generate "around $40,000 a year," and will pay for themselves by 2018.
"Long term, if these kiosks are successful, which we think they will be, it would certainly be nice to implement this system for the entire downtown area," Cowper said.
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