Imperial Valley press., 1945-08-09
FORUM
ON PARKING METERS

and the City Council that the farm
population in the vicinity of Ell Gen.
tro and surrounding area is seri-
ously talking of boycotting El Centro
on account of our parking meters
Fortunately, it does not make much
difference to the writer what they
do about the parking meters and
| there is some question in my
mind about the merits of the park
ing meters as a permanent PROPOSE
ton. However there is no doubt in
my mind about the class of junk
meters which we have. Being a
booster of Imperial Valley, as we'll
as proud of Imperial Valley, and
believing that we the people of I'm
perial Valley are entitled to the
best, therefore heartily resent the
inefficient junk boxes we have clut-
tering up the streets.
In San Diego, the parking meters
provide for two hours parking
whereas those installed here only
allowed Is minutes or an hour and
neither one fits the convenience or
llCCCoOllS O1 lllLlC OOG VI GtIl per
sons parking on our streets. Who
sold us this bill of junk I don't
know, but whoever bought it, GER
tainly were taken in If El Centre
can't have the best, then let's don't
don't have any. In my humble
opinion, if we had the best parkinS
meters, such as San Diego has. then
| tbnra &c ~,
| favor of the meters. For instance:
| shoppers by putting in two pennies,
! could make five or six calls at
| total cost of II cents or Is cents. II
| it were necessary to remain parked
| for more than an hour. one could
| put in seven or eight cents and still
| have time to get back to their car
! before receiving one of El Centro's
! popular pink slips, which I hear
farmers, businessmen, Tom, Dick
| and Harry and even the ladies cusS-
ing every day Of course, it may be
| that I am the only one that has
ears, thus this serious matter fails
| to receive any attention or state
ment of definite intentions Of action
to be taken by the proper authori-
/ ties.
Some say that the law can not
be enforced on Main street, because
of it being a state and federal high
way. This l do not know However.
I do know that no less than IS or
20 people have stated that they
would be glad to contribute heavily
in testing this matter out in the
courts. 1t seems to me that the
Chamber of Commerce and the City
Council should realize the i'll favor
that Ell CentrO is getting as result
of these second class parking me-
terS. 1t is unfortunate SO long as
We were going to install meters, we
didn't install the best. The chances
are that there would have been lit
tie kick.
People are not kicking about the
pennies or nickleS 50 much, but they
are raving mad at the idea of hav-
| ing to make trips to the City Hail.
| especially in this hot weather, when
| they receive one of these pink slips,
and especially when they receive
one when they are about one or
two minutes late after depositing a
nickel. Undoubtedly we need some
parking regulations, but the old sys-
tenn of two hours parking and hav-
ing the patrolmen check up about
twice a week worked better and
served to remind people that they
could not park all day in the buSi-
ness section without having to pay
$2.C0 parking charge. The meters
may be a money making proposition,
but is it worth the i'll will that Ell
Centre is gaining daily?
The parking meters are not so
far as l can tell, causing me any
loss Of business, but it is a nuisance
to try and alibi the city about ten
times a day to the farmers and
outside people as a result of these
parking meters. The City Council
men undoubtedly felt that they
were acting wisely in this matter
when these meters were installed
but time and facts probably will
prove that they were sold an in
ferior product and my personal
feelings are that the best is none
too good for El Centre or Imperial
Valley.
A long time ago, CaleXico gained
lot of bad will and lost trade be-
cause Of a tough chief of police.
Let's hope that Ell Centro avoids
the same misfortune as result of
cur meters.
w. T. FUGATE
614 Main Street
Fl Centre