Penny parking thrives in Sycamore - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

• SYCAMORE — Mike Stolarski didn’t need but a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee. But, being in a generous mood, he fed a parking meter enough for whoever pulled into his soon-to-be-empty parking spot.

  So, instead of costing him a penny, it cost him two.

  In a time of strained city budgets, this community of 18,000 residents about 40 minutes southeast of Rockford is one of a handful still holding onto meters that accept pennies, nickels and dimes around its town square. A penny gets you 12 minutes, a nickel buys an hour and a dime is worth two hours.

  Don’t fret if bills or a credit card is all you have — sometimes people leave a few extra pennies stacked on the meters. And the guy whose job it is to write tickets when he spots expired meters? He’s been known to feed them.

  The City Council quadrupled the fine for parking tickets a few years ago. “The fines went from a quarter to a dollar,” Mayor Ken Mundy said, adding out-of-towners often ask for a copy of the ticket as a keepsake.

  While it seems like a scene straight out of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” there’s purpose in the parking strategy.

  Mundy and others are well aware that meters translate into big money — and sometimes scandal — in places like Chicago, where parking costs as much as $6.50 an hour and a ticket is $65. But unlike many other communities, where downtowns are littered with boarded-up storefronts, theirs is thriving. And they think the penny parking meters’ message — that Sycamore is welcoming but not trying to gouge visitors — is one of the reasons why.

  “The meters encourage people to come downtown,” City Manager Brian Gregory said, which to him is more valuable than the “few thousand dollars” in revenue Sycamore would realize if it raised parking rates. Right now, he said, the city basically breaks even.

  So, why charge at all? Mundy and Gregory say the meters do exactly what the city and business owners want: Encourage motorists to park and shop without lingering too long so someone else can do the same.

  “Even though it’s just a little money, it gives you a little more incentive to watch the time,” Stolarski said.

  Merchants love the meters. “We use it as a marketing tool on Facebook,” Sycamore Antiques co-owner Ann Tucker said.

  Shoppers do, too. “It keeps the quaintness of the town,” said Kathy Tornberg, who planned on using the whole two hours her dime bought recently. “Don’t tell them, but I’d be willing to pay a quarter for two hours.”

  Page 2 of 2 - People who follow parking trends are hard-pressed to find another community with anywhere near the 316 penny parking meters still operating in Sycamore.

  “There is no other one because it serves no purpose,” opined Larry Berman, a former New York City parking commissioner. “It is just amazing.”

  There are a dozen in Silverton, Oregon. Just seven remain in Somerville, New Jersey, which once had 1,100.

  “I used to have one of the first ones (on display) in my office,” Somerville’s Clerk-Administrator Kevin Sluka said. “One day they took it for the parts.”

  In Sycamore, the penny meter’s survival is also a tribute to parking enforcement officer Giovanni Serra’s ability to fix them when they break down — and hunt down parts for those he can’t. Mundy knows what that means.

  “There’s no doubt the supply is diminishing,” he said. “We will eventually be out of the penny parking business.”

Penny parking thrives in Sycamore - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Immigrant driver's license policy makes sense - LA Times

 

Beginning Jan. 1, immigrants who are here illegally will be able to take another small step out of the shadows by applying for California driver's licenses. It took years to enact this controversial policy, but ultimately granting licenses to qualified drivers, regardless of their legal status, is the right thing to do. Why? Because, as nine other states and the District of Columbia have figured out, ensuring public safety on the roadways is more important than punishing people for being in the country illegally.

Ensuring public safety on the roadways is more important than punishing people for being in the country illegally.- 

As spelled out in AB 60, which was passed by the state Legislature and signed into law last year, applicants will have to clear reasonable hurdles. They must provide proof of identity (the accepted credentials, such as passports and birth certificates, vary by native country) and proof of California residency. They must then meet the same criteria as everyone else: Pass a written exam on the rules of the road, a vision test and a road test. At the insistence of the Department of Homeland Security, each license will note that it is “not acceptable for federal purposes” and “does not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration, or public benefits.” Nor can the licenses be used to clear security checks at airports.

 

Allowing such immigrants to drive legally acknowledges the reality that they make up a large slice of modern America: at least 3 million here in California and more than 11 million nationwide, according to the Migration Policy Institute. They work. They take their kids to school. They shop and run errands and so, yes, they drive (some insurance companies already offer policies to immigrant drivers who lack licenses). Given that reality, it is better for society to make certain that all drivers are trained and licensed, and that they understand the rules of the road and basic driver safety.

Clear statistics are unavailable on how many people have obtained licenses in the states that already issue them to those who are here illegally.

In a troubling development, reports from Maryland suggest that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used the state's license database to target potential deportees. ICE officials say they consulted the database only to track down people they were already seeking, but the National Immigration Law Center has asked a federal judge to order the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to disclose what exactly its policies are.

The government should comply with that request, and should go one step further and renounce the practice of going on fishing expeditions in the license database, which erodes trust in the licensing system. At the same time, other states should begin making licenses available to immigrants who are here illegally and help make the roads in all states as safe as possible.

Immigrant driver's license policy makes sense - LA Times

Letter: People can make a difference for their 4-footed friends - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

• Boone County residents recently passed a referendum for a needed new animal shelter. It is something that most everyone in this community is in agreement with. But purchasing land, getting permits, architect fees, actual construction costs and etc. always drive the expected costs up.

  Now that the funding process has begun (bonds), before we put a shovel into the ground, let’s reconsider making this new facility one that surrounding communities will want to emulate. Let’s set the bar high without increases to our property tax bills that will come with future construction overruns and administration costs.

  We can do this by partnering with a reputable no-kill nonprofit animal shelter such as an organization like Save-A-Pet (Grayslake) or Kindness, Inc. (Elgin). With this kind of collaboration, we can offer that reputable shelter the financial means ($800,000 bond) to either build new or repurpose an already existing building, in an already approved zoning area, provided they work with our animal control services by designating a separate area within this new facility strictly for animal control purposes.

  The shared expertise of both organizations would benefit all the animals either surrendered by owners or brought into this facility by our animal control personnel. Plus, the Animal Friends of Boone County already provide this community with the volunteer base needed to sustain such a joint venture. A no-kill nonprofit animal shelter collaboration is a win-win solution for everyone.

  In this era of financial uncertainty and rising property tax bills, the residents of Boone County would have a self-sustaining facility to be proud of, where domestic animals will no longer face euthanasia simply because they have no home. Afterall, in some Rockford schools, there is already collaboration with Crusader Clinic for area human health care within the schools themselves. So we see no reason why our Boone County community can’t do something similar for our domesticated four-footed friends.

  As Cathy Ward, a Boone County board member, recently stated, “I hope more people will follow their passions with elected officials to make good things happen — one voice — signing in the darkness.” Let the Boone County board hear your voice about a no-kill nonprofit animal shelter partnership. People can make a difference.

  — The Welter family, Belvidere

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Letter: People can make a difference for their 4-footed friends - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL