Want to park in the city’s business district? It’ll cost you
A new parking meter system is mostly up and running in the Jos. Campau business district. It will now cost $1 per hour to park. Until the end of the month, no tickets will be issued if you fail to pay. Instead, you will receive a warning notice.
By Charles Sercombe
Get ready to pay up to park in Hamtramck’s Jos. Campau business district and in city parking lots.
The city’s new meter system is now mostly in place and up and running.
The hourly meter charge might come as a shock for those who have lived here for a while.
It’s $1 per hour now, with a maximum allotted time for being able to park in the same space set at three hours.
There is a grace period, so to speak, in order to get folks used to the idea of once again having to pay to park in the business district.
There will be no tickets issued for the next week or two. But those who don’t pay will receive a warning notice.
Hamtramck had been without working meters for the past several years, and the whole concept of parking meters has been controversial for years.
There are some who say that parking should be free because the city doesn’t attract enough visitors and shoppers.
About a year ago the city council agreed to install the meter system, which is owned and operated by Municipal Parking Services, Inc. (MPS).
The deal is, the company installed the meters and will collect half of the revenue. But the real money is in tickets: if you don’t pay, or let your meter run out, you will be mailed a $45 ticket.
The new system is, of course, hi-tech. There are no meter attendants to check to see if you paid up.
Instead, there are cameras that record your license plate number, and if you do not punch in your plate number at the pay stations, you will get a ticket.
Payments can be made with coins or bills, by credit card and also by downloading an application.
There are some areas of forgiveness. For example, if you did forget to pay after parking, when you come back, there will be a post that lights up red to warn that you forgot to pay.
In that case, all you have to do is go pay at the pay station, and all is clear.
“The meters and kiosks provide more control to the consumer, allowing them to pick how and when to pay, and the mobile app helps identify the most convenient spot,” said Rob Matthews of MPS.
Enforcement is Monday through Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. However, signage went up recently saying that enforcement is seven days a week.
That is a mistake and the signs will be corrected, said Max Garbarino, the city’s Director of Community Safety and Services.
Posted Aug. 27, 2021
13 Responses to Want to park in the city’s business district? It’ll cost you
Leave a Reply
Michelle
August 27, 2021 at 10:10 pm
They have a meter in front of the PAC credit union, now I have to pay a $1 to use my ATM?
Nasr Hussain
August 27, 2021 at 11:16 pm
Is the ticket $25 or $45?
csercombe
August 28, 2021 at 10:41 am
according to max garbarino, $45.
Nasr Hussain
August 28, 2021 at 12:40 pm
https://www.thehamtramckreview.com/get-ready-to-dish-out-more-money-to-park-in-the-business-district/
According to your reporting the council made it $25 instead of $45.
Did management change it without permission
Mark M. Koroi
August 28, 2021 at 1:29 pm
The City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was one of the first municipalities to deploy the MPS state-of-the-art Robocop-like parking meters:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/local-news/automated-parking-meters-frustrate-confuse-vancouver-drivers
The City of Royal Oak recently contracted with MPS:
http://www.cadgnews.com/news/royal-oak-approves-new-parking-meters-fines-to-double-120958
The meters are controversial:
http://www.parkingtoday.com/articledetails.php?id=2352&t=are-self-enforcing-meters-a-disruptive-technology
Nasr Hussain
August 29, 2021 at 10:02 pm
After digging for the minutes, your original reporting is correct. You should start an investigation.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
HAMTRAMCK, MICHIGAN
MAY 26, 2020
7:00 PM
PRELIMINARY MATTERS:
The City Council Meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom conference by Mayor Karen Majewski.
Roll Call: Mayor Karen Majewski, Mayor ProTem Ian Perrotta, Andrea Karpinski, Nayeem Choudhury, Fadel Al-Marsoumi, Mohammad Alsomiri, Mohammad Hassan
Staff present: City Manager Kathy Angerer, City Attorney James Allen, City Attorney Harry Kalogerakos, City Clerk August Gitschlag, Finance Director Susan Hendricks, Police Chief Anne Moise, Community & Economic Development/DDA Manager Alex Iseri, Director of Community Safety and Services Max Garbarino, Treasurer Joy Gargano, Fire Chief Danny Hagen
……..
Motion by Karpinski, Choudhury seconds to amend the Municipal Parking Fine in the Fee Schedule form $45.00 to $25.00
Motion Passes by unanimous voice vote
………
__________________________________
August R. Gitschlag, City Clerk
csercombe
August 30, 2021 at 10:07 am
https://hamtramck.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-2022-Fee-Schedule.pdf
go to page 5, under parking meter heading
Nasr Hussain
August 30, 2021 at 11:27 am
This is very sneaky. Hopefully a new mayor, council & administration will be more honest.
Ken Bloom
October 28, 2021 at 11:16 pm
So, where do employees of all the businesses park? They have to pay $1/hour and have to move their vehicle every 3 hours. This is crazy. If I work full time, I have to physically move my vehicle 2 times every day during work. WTF?
Yasmin
November 8, 2021 at 1:58 am
this is the most outrageous money scheme idea. Going to a business out your own city to buy things but you get ticketed? This makes no sense esp if it should be free on weekends! This is the only reason I never liked hamtramck and didn’t even stay for a long time. Not even by a choice i stayed in hamtramck. This city has always found ways to ticket you now this wow no wonder it can’t grow it’s all tickets that’s bringing money to the city. You won’t be getting my money anymore.
Carol B.
March 26, 2022 at 11:04 pm
I went with my brother and sister-in-law to Polonia’s on Yemans,this was March 17, parked in the parking lot…my brother said he didn’t see a meter. So today, March 26th, I got a ticket!! My brother has been living in Hamtramck for ever, I used to live there, but I was shocked to get this ticket!! It was $25, and of course, I paid it right away. My brother is going to check out where we parked to see what happened.
I think people that live there should be very aware of how these meters work, and what they look like!!
Not very happy about this. I haven’t had any kind of ticket for over 25 years.
Dawn M Huhtala
July 4, 2022 at 5:54 pm
Went to polish village on the weekend and there were construction vehicles parked all along Yeman. So I parked in the lot. There were no signs posted and did not see a meter.
Kira Hunter
November 27, 2022 at 8:10 pm
I paid for 30 mins of parking and sat in my car looking up directions for 7 mins over my meter time without realizing it. Just got a ticket in the mail. This system absolutely ridiculous. $25 for a 7 min mistake lol.