<div dir="ltr"><div>Our taxes are indeed high, but I think they don't come all that close to covering the real costs of keeping the city up and running, maintaining its infrastructure, and so forth. Even if we were able to eliminate all corruption and obvious waste, I still don't think they would cover those real costs. And I, for one, am not in favor of kicking the can down the road and saddling the next generation with even more debt, just to keep our own taxes lower.<br><br></div>There are people who think that all the unpleasant realities we face are merely problems that can be solved with enough intelligence and political will, and then we will all share a better world. I disagree. Some of these realities are predicaments from which it is not possible to escape. They must just be faced and endured. The high cost of living in an old city may well be one of these predicaments.<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 12:41 PM, Ktid <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ktaylor@ktid.net" target="_blank">ktaylor@ktid.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>Good points C. If they could guarantee residents a property tax break I think this could be more palatable. <br><br>Sent from Kelly Taylor's iPhone. <div>401 486-1132</div><div><a href="mailto:ktaylor@ktid.net" target="_blank">ktaylor@ktid.net</a></div></div><div><div class="h5"><div><br>On Mar 10, 2016, at 8:34 AM, Coryndon Luxmoore <<a href="mailto:coryndon@luxmoore.com" target="_blank">coryndon@luxmoore.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small;line-height:20px">The community is giving a valuable resource away to private individuals to monopolize for a period of time. People from out of the city have not paid for these spots, non-drivers are subsidizing drivers, etc.. Meters that are profitable will increase revenue and slow the rise of property taxes. Meters that are not profitable will tend to vanish to profitable areas.</div><div style="font-size:small;line-height:20px"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;line-height:20px">There is a great study done in SF on parking and utilization for those who want to nerd out a bit on this issue: <a href="http://www.sfcta.org/transportation-planning-and-studies/current-research-and-other-projectsstudies/street-parking-management-and-pricing-study" target="_blank">http://www.sfcta.org/transportation-planning-and-studies/current-research-and-other-projectsstudies/street-parking-management-and-pricing-study</a></div><div style="font-size:small;line-height:20px"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;line-height:20px">I hope that the local merchants will use this opportunity to work together across the city to find better solutions if this does not work for them. My personal preference on the revenue side is a rise in taxes for surface parking lots to reduce incentives for demolition. There are a lot of other options like sales taxes, removal of TSA's, lowered services, etc. There are also other solutions like working on opening up the massive number of private surface lots around the city to the general public.</div><div style="font-size:small;line-height:20px"><br></div><div style="font-size:small;line-height:20px">Just for the record, I am a driver :). I regularly pay for street parking downtown to grab a coffee at Bolt. No open spot, no stopping.</div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 3:21 PM Kim Clark <<a href="mailto:ktcxyz@cox.net" target="_blank">ktcxyz@cox.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">the city decides all of these things. they were willing to swap out the pay stations in favor of meters in Wayland Square it was such a nightmare there. At least they were open to that.<div><br></div><div>when all is said and done, the city says this is good for business, that they are doing us a favor (not), but merchants are unanimous that it isn’t and thus far, the neighborhoods that have gotten them are NOT happy.</div><div><br></div><div>I don’t think we were even going to be told if the merchants hadn’t gotten suspicious and called them and asked directly.</div><div><br></div><div>they are doing this w/o reaching out to the community, although having been pressed, they are meeting with merchants next week.</div><div><br></div><div>as neighbors, i think your (our, as i live on dexterdale) concerns should also be addressed and perhaps this is something SNA wants to get involved with.</div><div><br></div><div></div></div><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div>k<br><div>
<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><div><b> </b><b> </b><b>Kim T. Clark</b></div><div><span style="color:rgb(185,45,93)"> <a href="http://www.RHODYCRAFT.com" target="_blank">www.RHODYCRAFT.com</a></span></div><div> 780 HOPE STREET<br> PROVIDENCE, RI 02906</div><div><div><div> 401.626.1833</div></div></div></div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><span><span style="color:rgb(71,135,255);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><span><a href="http://www.rhodycraft.com" target="_blank"><span><br><span><img height="144" width="195"></span><span><img height="38" width="144"></span>
</span></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><a href="http://www.rhodycraft.com" target="_blank">
</a><br></div></div><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Mar 9, 2016, at 3:13 PM, Gayle Gifford <<a href="mailto:gayle@ceffect.com" target="_blank">gayle@ceffect.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><div>Here's my few cents:<br><br>1. I'm pro and con on meters. My first concern is who decides where the meters go. What role do our neighborhood associations play? What role do our merchants groups play? What role does our city councilor play in this? What is the plan for the city, isn't this the type of policy decision that should have public input? rather than rolling out meters without consultation. E.g. I for one think the very first meters should be going up around the Brown athletic complex, around Wheeler and Moses Brown. It seems to me that the city's first priority should be capturing parking fees from those who live outside the city, or encouraging bus ridership to reduce traffic congestion and reduce pressure for more surface parking lots. <br>2. My next concern is be for the local merchants. If a chief reason for parking meters is to keep parking churning so that more people can visit the stores or restaurants, that should be something to measure and evaluate. Clearly parking on Thayer Street has been a problem in the past and it seems the meters have helped there. I don't ever remember having an issue in Wayland Square, but I am willing to park on Medway a few blocks away. Parking meters should correspond to the needs of the merchants that are in an area that parking meters are supposed to help. Is the retail pop in, 10-15 minute visits or 2 hours at a restaurant? If so, then the meters should be structured to allow for this. The credit cards are set up for $2.50 increments and they don't capture time on the meter... if you need to be at a meter for two hours and there is already time on it, you don't get credit, you pay the full $2.50. The pay stations are pretty discouraging though I use them downtown... they often seem out of order. Also, what are the hours? The really annoying parking on Hope Street is at night, when parked cars ignore distances from corners and seem to park just about anywhere. I believe the intent for meters is that they are going to be required until 9:00 pm.<br>3. My final concern is for the neighbors who live near the Hope Street area and will have cars parked outside their house. I get frustrated when it is very difficult to get in and out of my driveway due to Chez Pascal traffic or am unable to move one of the cars onto the street to get the other out. Though we've learned to work around it. Because we live close enough to walk to Hope Street, I'm rarely popping into anything with my car unless it's the library on the way home to pick up a book or East Side pharmacy for wine... hmmm, are they getting meters too?<br><br>Sounds like we'll all need to stock up on our quarters for those short hops. <br><br>Best,<br>Gayle Gifford<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Summit mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Summit@sna.providence.ri.us" target="_blank">Summit@sna.providence.ri.us</a><br><a href="http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us" target="_blank">http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us</a><br>SNA Website: <a href="http://sna.providence.ri.us/" target="_blank">http://sna.providence.ri.us/</a><br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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</div></blockquote></div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><FB.jpeg></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><RhodyCraftTag.jpg></div></blockquote><span class=""><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Summit mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:Summit@sna.providence.ri.us" target="_blank">Summit@sna.providence.ri.us</a></span><br><span><a href="http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us" target="_blank">http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us</a></span><br><span>SNA Website: <a href="http://sna.providence.ri.us/" target="_blank">http://sna.providence.ri.us/</a></span></div></blockquote></span></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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