CarrieDaway

It’s not the M-1 Rail or the outdoor concerts or the new restaurants that’s going to transform Detroit. It’s the small things, the little details that display competency by city government that are evidence of real change and will make Detroit sustainable for the long-haul. The most recent example of this is with the parking meters.

It doesn’t sound fancy but let me tell you I haven’t been this excited since the old Cass Tech building was finally torn down (sorry CT alum but it was an eye sore). Like most cities, parking is a challenge in Detroit. It is even more problematic because a good number of meters were broken but the parking enforcement folks were nevertheless committed to their jobs (they were even featured on A&E’s Parking Wars). Consequently,people were taking a chance to get a $40 parking ticket. My personal strategy to avoid this was to take a picture with my change and broken parking meter and tweet Mayor Duggan my faithful attempt, just in case I came back to a ticket I felt like I would have a better chance to fight it.

Clearly, city parking has caused me a bit of anxiety. You can only imagine how thrilled I was to see first hand the new parking system the city recently implemented. Not only is it a functioning system, it is user friendly and designed to be helpful! It follows your car via your licence plate and not the spot you park at, includes an app option AND accepts VISA! For the first time I could park on the street and truly enjoy a cup of coffee. Hooray for small victories!