New Cedarhurst parking meters stir controversy

Nineteen new parking meters that were installed in Cedarhurst through a pilot program in October 2014 are here to stay. Now more — for a total of about 700 meters —are being installed along Central Avenue and side streets such as Washington Avenue and Spruce Street.

Based on the village’s 2015-2016 operating budget, $795,000 was generated from parking meters.

Municipal Parking Systems, a Minnetonka, Minnesota-based company, installed the parking meters as part of the pilot program and are now installing the others.

“Someone brought the suggestion for the company to my attention,” said Village Trustee Ari Brown, who has overseen the installation. “I did my research on them and found them to be a good, solid company with lots of experience serving villages such as ours.” There was no cost for installation, but the village has an annual maintenance contract with the company.

The meters are electronically operated, accept credit cards, and can allow residents and shoppers to use the meters through a Smartphone app, according to Brown.

“I’m not tech savvy, but even I find the meters and app easy to use,” he said. “These aren’t like the muni-meters we had, where you had to keep walking back to feed the meter money to park. Plus they send the driver an emergency notification when your time to park is about to expire.”

Not everyone is happy with the new meters. A petition created by some business owners is being circulated through the village informing those who are unhappy with how the meters operate to contact the village directly to express concerns.

On the petition, business owners are “dismayed by the installation” because sensors on them don’t allow for people who leave with time remaining to allow the next person to park in the spot to use up the time. They also say that those who remain in a spot could become over-ticketed by meter maids who will be notified electronically when a meter expires. They say this “alienates shoppers from visiting the neighborhood.”