Free Parking

There is a movement across the United States to allow motorcycles to lane split or filter in traffic. California is the only state that allows motorcycles to pass between cars in slow traffic though some other states are looking into it, notably Arizona. Lane splitting is the norm in the rest of the world and is one reason motorcycles make so much sense in modern congested traffic.

In the US the main reason to ride is to have fun because motorcycles are dangerous and danger is to be avoided at all costs lest we feel alive for a few short moments during a commute usually carried out by tin can with hot coffee, telephone and music available to deaden the boredom. Key West, small flat and located in a warm climate year round makes for ideal two wheeled commuting especially as it's a town with limited street parking. Enter the scooter,

Motorcycle parking on the streets is abundant and free, furthermore you can share parking spaces if you trust the car driver, though any vehicle in a car space not paid for will get a parking ticket. 

For many people who usually drive cars the freedom of scooter parking is frequently a bit confusing, though cutting corner st intersections and passing cars on the right, though illegal, is often done and sometimes scooter riders pay the price and get knocked over. Danger is real especially when you forget your precautions and good sense.

I doubt lane splitting will come to Florida in my life time. Drivers are entitled and angry much of the time and the idea that they could get used to some jerk on two wheels getting an advantage in a traffic jam would probably drive them to open fire. Never mind the California Highway Patrol endorses lane splitting as a way to reduce motorcycle accidents and reduce motorcycles getting rear ended in traffic slow downs.

I find two wheels a good bit faster in town even without lane splitting simply by taking advantage of the scooter's ability to fit through narrow lanes and it's ability to change direction easily. I don't follow tourist traffic down main streets in winter. Nor does anyone on an agile scooter  avoiding massive trucks and cars.

Gas prices go up in synch with scooter sales in the United States but when gas prices are low and stable as they are now the impulse scooter sale is much harder.  I don't view my Vespa as a money saving tool or even as  a climate change defender, it's fun and I enjoy it and that's good enough for me. Sure it gets 70 miles per gallon or thereabouts but tires wear out much faster than a car and they cost a hundred bucks apiece by the time they are installed. Modern Vespas are good runners but they need the usual motorcycle maintenance schedule and that takes work or money and I hate getting greasy... Two wheels is fun for me and that's why I ride.  

Free parking is nice and lane splitting would be nice (if they didn't shoot me from the peanut gallery) but I have been riding since 1970 so I know what I like. Renting a  scooter on a  whim is easy in Key West and you don't even have to have a helmet. And if you don't know how to ride this is not the town to practice. Too many people think Key West equates to Disneyland because they are on vacation but people fall off and die or have to get flown to Miami ($60,000 for non residents) fpr expensive nasty injuries. Scooter riding is dangerous.

I don't fixate on the dangers, I am always surprised by the need to find danger in every human activity that gets the blood flowing. It's almost as though being comatose is the desired state. 

I expect a fairly decent bill when my orange scooter comes back from the latest service but it will be worth it. Jiri on Stock Island does good work and I am looking forward to warmer weather. 

   

My old reliable, the other 150cc I own is still going strong after 30,000 miles and 14 years. I got it in 1994 with 250 miles ridden by the previous owner who dropped it and gave up after putting a  tiny dent in the leg shield. It's never been my primary ride, bridesmaid always to my motorcycles or my hopelessly unreliable classic two stroke Vespa yet this one is fast, 65 mph easily, and has never stopped by the side of the ride unless I wanted it to. Italians build good scooters. You should ride one. And park it for free in Key West from time to time.

New Parking Rules In Old Town

It must to obvious to anyone who has paid attention over the decades that parking in Key West is, like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an issue that will probably not be solved in this coming century. Unless a shortage of cheap oil knocks all internal combustion off the roads Old Town Key West will be plagued with parking problems no matter what scheme the city comes up with. Even before the railroad was converted into a direct road link to the mainland in 1938, cars have been a symbol of individual mobility in Key West, even if the road went no further than No Name Key, and was not an easy drive to boot. Duval Street in the 1930s, courtesy the State Archives:



Next month all parking rules are going to change, and while one hopes that the issues that have been raised most recently, residents having to walk blocks from car to home, will be solved; I doubt it. Currently I believe about one third the spaces in Old Town (more or less west of White Street, north of Truman Avenue) are designated as Residential Parking. This scheme was inaugurated after the city tried to implement a neighborhood permit parking scheme which failed. The signs for "permit parking Only" are still on some streets bizarrely enough but they mean nothing.



The newspaper recently ran a story about Florida car license plates, known as tags in the Sunshine State, which will soon change their format. Apparently Big Brother's enforcement cameras take poor pictures of tags with raised letters so all states are changing format to dark, flat lettering on a light background to make them easier to read. This means the county designation on tags will soon disappear, which is a sentimental shame with practical consequences.

The city will sell ten dollar permits to residents of the city only, who can produce a driver's license, car registration and utility bill. lacking any one of these three items means no permit for you! Well, that's the theory right now but strict implementation of new parking rules in the Southernmost City usually leads to unintended  consequences such that strict implementation usually falls by the wayside. We shall see; all that is the theory so far...

The old blue  parking permits sold I believe for $85 will no longer be valid.

Nor will tags with the word "Monroe" embossed on them be a valid  way to use Residential parking spots anymore. Florida tags have to be replaced automatically every five years if they aren't specialty, fund raising tags, so these types of tags will soon disappear anyway. In the meantime, as of next month the only legal way to use residential parking spots will be with the new green sticker.

 

 

Parking meters are in use between Elizabeth and Whitehead Streets and on-street parking costs $1.50 an hour paid at these machines using a credit card: 

 

One has to wonder how this new program will work precisely. Given the stringent requirements to prove residence there are quite a few people, like me, who are used to using residential parking spots who will now be excluded. In my case I am not affected as there is ample parking at my job and I work at night anyway. My visits to Old Town for recreation usually involve a powered two wheeler which gets free parking anyway...and I have a few spots I know where the new rules won't affect my ability to see a movie or eat out. However the ramifications of this new scheme are of far greater concern I think that just my convenience. Other county residents who work in Old Town will have a much harder time.  

For instance will a  vehicle with a handicapped sticker be able to park in residential parking without a green sticker? I guess we will have to wait for a test case. They can park free in metered spots so for tourists that should change nothing, unless they rent a place in Old Town with limited parking....

Given that not everyone wants to ride a bicycle or a scooter, seen below enjoying free parking on Fleming Street kitty corner from the library...a lot of car drivers are going to have figure out their strategy for parking and working and staying close to home.

The city is buy repainting the residential spots so there will hopefully be no confusion this winter, but I wonder what snowbirds will think when they discover their blue annual permits are no longer valid? and lacking even one of the three validating documents they will not get access to the much desired residential spots near their million dollar winter homes? Hmm...I foresee stormy weather ahead.

I think a large part of the problem, beyond the simple shortage of physical space, is that the city is trying to cope with numerous competing needs.  First off many of the off street parking spaces, including driveways and garages have been paved over or turned into living spaces, in a knock on effect caused by small expensive housing and the natural desire to make the most of what you've got. If residents reclaimed their garages half the problem would evaporate.

The consider the needs of permanent year round residents for whom these rules seem to have been enacted...These are the people who live in the city and can't park close to home. Are their needs going to remain paramount in the face of county residents coming to the city and not finding free parking? The snowbirds giving city commissioners earache about their parking woes? Tourists grumbling about expensive tickets?   Parking is a nightmare in winter. Managing it is a heroic task. Then there is the requirement that people parking their vehicles use common sense. In other words just because someone ha sparked in front of a No Parking sign doesn't mean you should too. Locals know what's what, indeed this vehicle might very well be the owner of the "No Parking" sign!

Check for special signs and READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!  

Motorcycle parking is not car parking even if its empty. Conversely bicycle parking isn't scooter parking...even if you think it should be. Don't park on sidewalks and don't whine when you get a ticket. Please don't call 9-1-1 because Parking Enforcement is part of city hall's duties not the police department. We dispatch parking control officers if you see a violator but we don't mediate parking disputes after a ticket is issued, not that anyone cares. People get incandescent with rage when they get a ticket. It's amazing.

Yellow means no parking, red means no parking and get a huge fine or get towed if you do, while white means go ahead and park if you can find space. Big trucks and SUVs make no sense in Key West but entitlement expresses itself in the most mysterious ways.

And on the subject of reading the signs, if it says TOW AWAY you will get towed to a location outside Key West, a long cab ride away in fact and you will get a bill of more than a hundred bucks, sometimes a lot more, to get your car back. The tow trucks patrol their businesses all night and if they see an unauthorized car parked in a business lot they will take it. They check with the police department to make sure it's not stolen and so I know they call in tows at all hours of the night. Pay attention!

 

In point of fact if you use common sense free spaces and city parking lots, and don't mind walking a few blocks now and then parking in Key West is quite bearable. However if you expect ease of use because you have spent a lot of money to either visit or live here you will be disappointed. Just like love, money can't necessarily buy you parking and if you rent or buy a home without off street parking be aware that you will be walking from time to time. But in these Fall months parking is a delight, like this on James Street next to the city public parking garage, known as the Park and Ride as it is on the bus line:



Or, if you can't stand the idea of traveling light load up your lithe motorcycle with a trailer and a bicycle and pretend you are  an SUV and take up a whole space for yourself. This time of year that's feasible even on Fleming Street!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the city's official website where you can apparently pay parking fines online: Violations must be paid within 10 calendar days or an additional late charge of $5.00 will be assessed. After 20 days, an additional late charge of $5.00 will be assessed - total late fee of $10.00 per ticket. Parking violations will be considered delinquent after 30 days and sent to a collection agency.

OTH Vehicle parked on public right-of-way facing oncoming traffic $35.00 SID Vehicle parked on sidewalk on a public right-of-way $35.00 FIR Vehicle illegally parked near a fire hydrant (within 15 feet) $175.00 DES Failure to park vehicle within authorized parking space $35.00 NPZ Parked in a designated no parking zone $35.00 RV RV/Oversize vehicle parked illegally on a public right-of-way $75.00 HAN Unauthorized use of handicapped parking space $250.00 OTH Other parking violations to wit: $35.00 FLN Parked in designated fire lane $175.00



Oil Change Deferred

It wasn't so much that the former U-Haul was abandoned in a perfectly good parking space, though that is odd in a town where space, and parking space in particular is at a premium. It was the oil pan underneath the vehicle. One quick oil change and this baby will be ready to go.

I wonder what the story really is, how it ended up here and who was going to do that oil change and got distracted at the last minute. I will never know.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Parking

A parking lot attendant's lot is not an unhappy one (with apologies to William Schwenck Gilbert).Parking choices in Key West are numerous yet people insist on complaining about the difficulties. Granted for residents who live without off street parking and then expect to be able to park in front of their homes with no problems, life can be a little harassing. However if a parking lot is out of the question, around ten whole dollars a day, you could feed coins into a meter to the tune of one Euro per hour, or a dollar fifty in old money. I like to swipe my credit card and keep the ticket on the dash for use at however many meters I use until the ticket expires. What could be simpler?
Look for the big blue sign and the small Tardis underneath it and there you are. The city's parking Tsar carefully studied the problems of parking in Old Town and came up with a plan that was going to change everything in favor of a decal program to limit street parking. The city commission took one quick look at their expert's opinion and threw the whole thing out with no discussion. The net result is residential spots are still reserved for Monroe County tags and people who buy annual decals. So much for hiring expert staff.Riding a two wheeler into town could be a lot simpler as there is free parking all over the place. Don't park in spots reserved for bicycles and don't block motorcycle parking your car and all will be light, happiness and joy.
I saw this motorcycle paying to park apparently and I was forced to the conclusion that most likely a nearby employer had an agreement to let the workers park in a paid lot during the work day. Otherwise it makes no sense to pay to park.One final tip is not to park as locals do. Just because someone else leaves their scooter on the sidewalk doesn't mean you won't get towed if you do the same. Private agreements with landlords and property owners don't necessarily extend to strangers. And in case you are wondering just because I work at the police department doesn't mean I get special privileges- only one person in the city is authorized to cancel parking tickets and his orders are fierce, so don't even ask.

Interesting Parking

The only positive thing I can say about this is that the driver of the car was still inside it even as she blocked the bicycle path on Palm Avenue.Parking is a such a fraught subject in Key West one hardly knows where to begin. The city manager, in his infinite wisdom created a supervisor of parking to add to the ranks of well paid leaders in the city. The plan is to have one person come up with a way to make parking fair and equitable in the city, particularly in the streets of Old Town and to supervise the parking control officers who are now not part of the city Police Department, but are their own city division. The issue of on street parking is part of the big annoyance for residents. Some of whom even cover their cars and with embroidered pride. The thing is a lot of homes on narrow streets have had their driveways or garages converted to living space to augment the square footage of their cottages. Yet these residents still want to be able to park close to their homes if not directly in front. And not everyone wants to ride a powered two wheeler. Like this devoted owner who apparently drapes his/her pride and joy in towels for some reason while enjoying a free scooter space.The Old Town parking conundrum gets worse in winter when snowbirds and extra visitors tend to clog up the city parking spots to capacity. I found this stretch of Windsor Lane converted into a parking lot from a sidewalk. The Jeep bore a bumper sticker advising the reader to indulge in random acts of kindness which I thought rather ironic as I dodged the vehicle to continue my walk in the middle of the narrow street. On the whole I find it not too complicated to find somewhere to park as long as walking a couple of blocks isn't out of the question. In that I am helped by the fact my Ford has a Florida license plate issued with the word "Monroe" stamped on it. The local county designation allows one to park the vehicle in spaces marked "Residential" and there are a few of those around Old Town.Among all the plans under review the city parking "Czar" is considering changing rules for Residential parking spots and is debating the merits of issuing permits, possibly only for Old Town residents or workers or possibly for all city residents, thus excluding county residents. While nothing has been decided and everything is up for discussion as one might imagine everyone wants to have a say in the outcome. Not everyone naturally understands the purpose of those strange white markings on the street. Fitting one's car into them is impossible for some drivers.Technically paring motorcycles on sidewalks isn't legal but in some places around town, like outside bars, people seem to get away with it. This is Don's Place on Truman. You will always see motorcycles and scooters on sidewalks outside the Green Parrot on Whitehead for instance. The city is absolutely littered with free motorcycle spaces and bicycle racks which makes cars, especially in this benign climate, pretty redundant. But you'd be amazed how many people block driveways and get towed from business parking lots because they didn't read the signs. One piece of advice I offer is not to imitate others. Blocking lanes can easily get you towed, and juts because you see someone else do it doesn't mean you will get away with it too. Some locals know what they can get away with... Here we see Madjack's Rolls Royce http://madderonthehill.blogspot.com/ blocking Love Lane. Do not try this when visiting: you will get towed and face a bill up to $300...Towing fees are steep enough the Mayor started a campaign in the newspaper to review private towing policies and prices. That was until one towing company pointed out the Mayor himself has had vehicles towed off private lots a few times recently. That subject suddenly went dark. I wonder myself how towing companies get to charge such huge fees for removing vehicles for illegal parking from private spaces, but I generally spend a little extra time finding a non metered spot as convenient as possible to my destination and then allowing sufficient time to walk the rest of the way.

A properly parked Ford Fusion is a thing of beauty, but if you have a motorcycle, say a Triumph Bonneville, and you aren't bringing the dog to town, far better to ride, and park, that.

Southernmost Parking

How cool is that? Driving Simonton Street in your hot red convertible, top down, checking out and being checked out. Then you have to park.You would be astonished the lengths people go to avoid dealing with parking in Key West. They find contraptions (Where, Dear God, where?) and adapt them to use on city streets. Got a bizarre tricycle? Tart it up with a lawn mower engine and call it good.The city's rules on parking are not easy to follow especially if one's main purpose is to be in town a little while and the mind is already focused on the benefits of alcohol. There are meters which yield about ten minutes a quarter on the blocks surrounding Duval Street. I say "about" because I don't use them very often and when I do I tend to throw all my available change at random and hope for the best. I think an expired meter is $25 and other violations are $35. So $25 for a day's choice parking while on vacation may be an idea worth considering. Or check these innovations out:That magnificent, flood damaged structure in the picture is City Hall and Fire Station Number 2 now scheduled for demolition. City Hall's next location (possibly here once again) is a hot topic in the city, a community which sometimes follows the lines of the old Jewish joke regarding the number of people in the room and the correspondingly vaster number of opinions. Approach the machine with credit card in hand and choose your language (Francais, Deutsch, Espanol) and follow the pictograms. Upon insertion the machine tells you how long you get for the basic fee and you can hit a button for more time. It's brilliantly simple.

Put the ticket in the windshield thusly and bob's your uncle.

Want to move the car? No problem use the same ticket at another location until the time expires. An excellent deal except if you ride a powered two wheeler and for some inexplicable reason feel the need to use a metered spot you have to use coins else your ticket will get nicked, obviously. The good news? Scooter and Motorcycle parking spots are FREE!Old Town is a great location for pedestrians, and there is debate among the enlightened about the possibility of creating a pedestrian only section on Duval. This idea is very radical in Key West and may be implemented some time after gas reaches $10 a gallon. For a city coming to grips with the inconvenience of recycling, pedestrian malls are a concept one or two leaps down the road. Use a bicycle and..park for free!"Private" even if hammered to a tree means just that. You will be towed and there will be much lamentation as the tow fee ends up being north of $200 and the wrecker lots are all on islands with cheaper land than Key West (Stock Island, Rockland Key etc...) so the cab ride to retrieve your towed vehicle will make you sweat a few extra dollars. By the way, there will be a test at the end of this essay so, PAY ATTENTION. If the meter is jammed, what do you do? Park, get a ticket and prepare to contest it in court. This little rule is the cause of more anguish than you might imagine. The idea, a few administrations ago, entailed the notion of considering all citizens to be thieves and the assumption was you would knobble a meter with, say, your jimmy tool you habitually carry in your purse and then park for free. So to prevent us all turning into crooks, the city dreamed up this buzz kill. No, you don't catch a break if the meter is broken, you get a ticket.

They mention it twice because they mean it.So, like this smart lady you whip out your debit/credit card and buy peace of mind.So, you parked your car in New Town on a wide meter less street and you lifted your bike off your bike rack and peddled under the canopy into Old Town for a little sightseeing and figure you are safe if you secure your bike with a lock. Which you are-except (there is always an exception) do not lock the bike to city property if it is not a proper bike rack. Public works may cut the lock and impound the bicycle at the Police Department if it gets in their way. This has nothing to do with cops who will not unlock your car for you if you lock the keys inside, nor will they cut the lock on your bicycle, contrary to popular belief. I don't believe Public Works has a band of roving lock cutters on the payroll but you are subject to sanction if you do this popular act of law breaking.On the other hand, leave your bike, as ratty as it may be, unlocked for five seconds and it will be GONE. Do you know your expensive bike's serial number? Too bad, that number makes it much easier to retrieve when the thief tries to pawn it. If you don't report your bike stolen, even without a serial number, and you see someone else riding it around town how will you prove to the officer I dispatch to help you, that the bicycle is yours? Swallow your pride and report the theft. Now back to parking. Next question: May I Park Like A Local? Answer: Most Assuredly Not.Sidewalk parking garners you a tow. Unless it's your business it's in front of and you deliver pizzas and Philly cheese steaks around town almost 24 hours a day. Parking and admiring the passing scene is allowed though. You may not even have to lock your ride in this case.Do not park your motorcycle/scooter in a bike parking area. To each, her own.Read the sign. After I took the next picture this scooter was gone, ridden away by the owner. Again, do not imitate locals who know (from painful experience) what they may get away with momentarily.This lot was full as usual on Appelrouth Lane http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2009/02/appelrouth-lane.html which means moving along and finding somewhere else. You have lots of choices downtown. Yellow line? Fool, don't do it. If you have a handicap sticker or license plate you can park for free in metered parking but you cannot use loading zones. Unless... A motorcycle/scooter at night opens up Duval Street with lots of easy parking. Don't park in the cab stand at Rick's Bar, the cab drivers hate that and I hate getting their calls of complaint.Bicycles make travel easy but the good student will point out immediately what is wrong with the picture above. On Fleming at Duval, alongside La Concha Hotel (which has it;s own expansive parking lot with a scooter rental shop on premises. Park your car and ride).Please, NO SCOOTERS!
Getting a little close to the edge here:
If you need a Slavic lap dance you have to work your way past the ride, so to speak.
I almost forgot- blocking driveways is a capital offense in the Conch Republic.
Is this creative or illegal? You decide. This where parking gets into a gray area. Sidewalk parking is illegal but what is this Honda Metropolitan (Jazz, in Canada) hurting? It seems like sensible use of space to me. Move along, nothing to see here.Off street parking is excellent and necessary. You just need less of it if you can bring yourself to ride a scooter. Do not use vendor allocated spots along Duval. They pay through the nose to use these places during the day and you will be towed faster than greased lightning if you block them.
The above picture illustrates the demand placed on every available inch of Duval sidewalks and streets. Busking, temporary bicycle parking, vending, walking, you name it. Vending seems a hard life to me:Even prams/strollers need to be legally parked or risk getting a ticket.Stopping in the street for a chat is a hallowed Key West tradition, Getting impatient marks you as a busy person or an out-of-town asshole.This my preferred spot for the Bonneville when I'm in town on eaton at Duval. The turquoise building is my temple- the four screen Tropic Cinema.Let us not forget the Post Office at 400 Whitehead Street. From time to time parking at the post office has been allowed after hours. The current post mistress has decided she can't cope with the "liability." Thus she has empowered Arnold's Towing to make an absolute fortune towing from this lot after hours. Read the signs, don't park here, you will be towed. I don't begrudge the fortune Arnold's is making but a dozen cars a night is a lot of angry people and they tow as many as often as they can and still the idiots keep parking here.
These tourists were smart enough to be cycling but they didn't know where to cycle to. I stopped and was nice to them and sent them up Fleming to Margaret to the cemetery to White Street to Salute for drinks and dinner on the beach, just like any tourist baiting local would. She gave me a Key Lime chocolate coconut square and I made her promise not to tell my wife. I had to eat it immediately else it would have melted.By now you are waving your arm to get my attention and begging to be the first to tell me what is wrong with this picture taken on Southard at Thomas:Blue heaven tries to be a good neighbor but area residents went through a phase of dumping on this place. It's too expensive for me but you might want to make a habit of mango pancakes for breakfast here with live chickens on the side.And so the final test: what is residential? Residential spots are supposed to help residents park somewhere near their homes. To use them you need to either a) have a Monroe county tag, like mine:or you can buy a sticker from City Hall, I think it's $85 for one calendar year (January to January). If you don't have these accessories, eagle-eyed residents will call you in and you will be ticketed. Many of Florida's 68 counties issue their own labels on tags like the one above. They aren't registered in the computer system so telling me the suspect vehicle had a "Sunshine State" tag won't help me locate it in the police computer. Florida used to issue "Lease" tags to rental companies but thieves used them as a beacon to guide them to the richest pickings. In an effort to join the race to end the separation of church and state in the New South, Florida has joined the fashion and offers an "In God We Trust" tag. We have not joined with Virginia in celebrating the celebration of Slavery by dedicating April to the Confederacy of Sore Losers. Then there are over a hundred specialty tags that send a portion of their revenues to more-or-less good causes depending on your taste. Former Governor Jeb Bush was once heard to lament that the basic Florida tag was itself becoming an endangered species, a sentiment with which I heartily agree. However in a tax starved state one learns to be creative. Here is a residential spot packed with scooters. Multiple vehicles in one parking spot is permitted but if the spot is metered and the meter runs out everyone gets a ticket.

As for the quiz I was just joking. (I was also joking about legally parking strollers/prams but the stuff about Virginia celebrating the War Between The States to Keep Slavery is not unfortunately a joke).