Month: September 2012

It’s an all-too-common problem when parking downtown: You pull into a metered space, but you only have a few nickels. With the current rate of $1 an hour, those nickels only buy you a few minutes. You cross your fingers and hope to avoid a parking ticket.

But the city is currently seeking a vendor to install, maintain, and provide the associated software for new meters that will be capable of accepting credit cards as well as change.

The city put out a request for proposals seeking a vendor over the summer. Six firms sent in proposals, and the city is expecting to award a contract by early November. New equipment may be installed by spring.

“We see a great advantage to new equipment that can accept credit cards. That will increase the compliance rate,” said city engineer John Cameron. “If I only have a little change in my pocket, I might only be able to get 20 minutes of parking, whereas if I have a credit card, I could pay to stay there a full hour.”

The current parking meters, which are mostly located downtown with a few scattered throughout Midtown’s medical district, range in age from 10 to 30 years old. Most are digital, but the city still has a few of the old mechanical clockwork-style meters.

The engineer’s office is debating whether or not they want the new meters to accept dollar bills.

“From what we’ve heard, there are a lot of maintenance issues with cash acceptors. They get jammed. But we’re keeping the door open for that,” Cameron said.

New meters would be a mix of single-head meters and multi-space parking kiosks. The kiosks would be used on streets with five to six parking spaces per block.

“The kiosks are very effective, and they’re easier to collect funds from,” Cameron said. “But they’re more expensive, and there’s some charges associated with them so they wouldn’t break even for less than, say, five to six spaces on a block.”

The city currently has 1,200 meters, but Cameron said they’ve identified 200 more spots that could support meters.

“There are some blocks downtown where there are building basements under the sidewalk, so we can’t put a single head meter post in the sidewalk. The multi-space kiosks could be located away from the basement, and we can meter that piece of roadway,” Cameron said.

The new meters should also be easier to maintain. At any given time, there are a number of broken parking meters, and Cameron said the city relies on citizens to report those. However, the new meters will be fitted with wireless technology since they’ll be accepting credit cards. That technology will also serve as a way to alert the city when a meter is down.

As for the cost of parking, Cameron doesn’t anticipate a rate increase with the new meters, but he admits that Memphis is “well behind our peer cities in the rates we charge.”

The city brings in $400,000 to $500,000 per year from parking meters. Since the ability to accept credit cards may bring about better compliance, Cameron expects that figure to double once the new meters are installed.

Crack Up

Who doesn’t think that a drive down Summer is incomplete without some random quotation marks and double entendre? Universal Glass has a brand-new paint job and now more than ever they want to see your “crack.”

We’re pretty sure they mean broken windows.

Listed

Memphis doesn’t get much respect in the magazine world. We’re always making some sensational worst cities list, and by all accounts, we’re among the fattest, laziest, most depressed and crime-addled cities in the world. On the bright side, we’re also very sober and a great place to retire or visit a cool film festival! Now, apparently, and due to completely random criteria, Travel & Leisure magazine has dubbed Memphis the ninth dirtiest, loudest, and rudest city in America. T&L generously notes that Memphis has improved its standing thanks to its 52-Clean litterbug hotline, but “Offenders get only a scolding letter in the mail — perhaps proof of the locals’ easygoing nature.” Voters also put Memphis in the top 10 for its “purposely sloppy barbecue and unrestrained music scene.” Littering we get. But are there really places where restrained music and neat barbecue are considered a good thing?

Neverending Elvis

When The Wall Street Journal called pop singer Emin Araz oglu Agalarov “the Michael Bublé of Russia,” the international recording artist said he’d rather be known as “the Elvis Presley of Azerbaijan.” And who wouldn’t?

There will be no spilled milk in the upcoming demolition of the former Midwest Dairy plant on South Bellevue.

That’s because the South Memphis Alliance, which is redeveloping the site, will donate the enormous milk bottle that sits atop the dairy to the Children’s Museum of Memphis (CMOM).

The abandoned dairy plant, which has gone through many ownership changes since it opened in 1930, will be demolished under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 3, a grant-funded program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The program aims to reverse disinvestment in communities most impacted by foreclosure. In addition to the South Memphis Soulsville neighborhood where the dairy plant is located, Frayser, Binghampton, Vance Avenue Choice Neighborhood, and Glenview/Orange Mound are also being targeted by the Neighborhood Stabilization Program for future demolition and community development.

Dick Hackett, CEO of CMOM, first noticed the giant milk bottle as a child when making trips to visit family in the Soulsville area. Standing over three stories tall and weighing more than five tons, the structure is one of 22 in existence in the United States and currently the largest milk bottle in the world. As plans to demolish the historic dairy plant circulated, Hackett’s interest in the milk bottle grew.

“I’ve kept an eye on it over the past five years, knowing that at some point that building had to be renovated or removed,” Hackett said.

“I got a call from the [South Memphis Alliance], and we jumped at the opportunity to have the world’s largest milk bottle at our museum. To us, it represents a large part of the American dream. A lot of immigrants came to the United States and had the dairy industry as part of their livelihood. Turner Dairy also bought the plant at one point and is still located in Memphis, so that’s another tie.”

South Memphis Alliance’s development manager, Shelley Thomas, said she is excited to work with Hackett and the museum.

“I love how CMOM incorporates things that are relevant to the area, and obviously milk is very important to the health of a child,” Thomas said.

After the dairy plant is demolished, the South Memphis Alliance will build a children’s center with programs aimed at helping foster children and local families. Fund-raising for the children’s center has yet to begin.

While Hackett estimates that it will take a few weeks to renovate the milk bottle, plans for incorporating it into the museum are already under way. One plan includes building a barn-like outdoor classroom with the milk jug serving as a centerpiece as well as a functioning space for exhibits.

“There’s a little bit of clean-up that needs to be done to the exterior, and then we will bring it to the site and set it up,” Hackett said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to add concrete walls and have some sort of door or entrance from an outdoor classroom into the bottle. We’re also hoping to have space for some kind of exhibit unique to the milk bottle.”