and how much will this ...cost on top of the $1900 against the $1470 gathered
You aren't looking at the bigger picture.
First you aren't even considering the original purchase price of this brainiac system.
It only loses $1,470.00 if every parking space is rented for each performance.
So how many performances a year?
Ok, so lets say 100.
That's a loss of $147,000 to piss off the Proctor's patrons.
Brilliant.
Second, let's just purchase another $180,000 worth of installed meters and we get to a break even point while pissing off the taxpayers further and still pissing off the Proctor's patrons. Assuming that every space is filled for every event.
What is the point?
Just to piss people off?
There will never be a dime of revenue.
Enforcement will still cost more than the entire system.
Parking should be free downtown after 6pm. Always.
the bigger point is why bother even talking about charging parking without enforcement
without enforcement there will never be revenue - why even bother visiting the meter
in this info age the gig will be up before it starts - I guess this is what happens when you are past your prime in a techy world and all you read is the gazette
or maybe this is just a way to reserve parking for the privileged - just put a symbol on your dash
SCHENECTADY : Police miss budget on both ends Overtime already tops budget for year BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter The Schenectady Police Department has spent much more than it budgeted for overtime this year, and its collection company hasn’t brought in any revenue from old parking tickets, Chief Brian Kilcullen reported at the start of his budget review Tuesday. Fire Chief Michael Della Rocco also announced during the budget review that he will retire next year, though he has not set a date. City Council members were most dismayed by the lack of parking ticket revenue, which they had been counting on to balance the Police Department’s budget this year. “That was what we were Share your looking at [for] funding an thoughts assistant police chief,” said on this story Councilwoman Denise Brucker, recalling a compromise in dailygazette.com which the council decided not to cut a second assistant chief because of the projected additional revenue. “Now that hasn’t happened.” Kilcullen said bureaucratic problems delayed the launch of the ticket collection program. But he defended his department, noting two databases were merged this year so traffic control officers could access the list of ticket scofflaws. One officer ticketed cars for $2,000 in unpaid tickets in one day, he said, and $975 of that was paid that afternoon. “The technology took some time,” he said. The collections company is now scheduled to start work next month. But with no work history from this year to consider, the council will have to blindly guess how much money the company will bring in for the 2014 budget. Finance Commissioner Deborah DeGenova recommended budgeting no more than 10 percent of the $2.3 million owed to the city for old parking tickets. The collections company keeps 25 percent of what it collects. ‘NEVER REALISTIC’ While revenue is down, the department is also spending more than budgeted because of overtime. The department had spent more than $1.1 million on overtime through the end of September. It was budgeted to spend only $750,000 for the entire year. For next year, the budget has been increased to $850,000. Councilman Vince Riggi asked if that was realistic. Kilcullen chuckled. “That line has never been a realistic line,” he said. In the past, the department balanced its overspending in overtime with unspent funds in its salary line. Various police chiefs have explained they were forced to use overtime because they were understaffed. But at the beginning of this year, 10 officers were hired to bring the department up to full strength. There is currently just one vacancy, created in August. Despite full staffing, Kilcullen said he needed overtime to fill patrols. “We still have the need to adequately staff the streets,” he said. He noted the department is now budgeted for 17 fewer officers than it had a few years ago. He also noted overtime for detectives is half of what it was a decade ago, cut when administrators determined the detectives were doing on overtime what they could easily be doing during their scheduled shifts and decided they needed more supervision. But that could be driving up the patrol division’s overtime costs, Kilcullen said. Many detectives are now choosing to work overtime as patrol officers — and getting paid much more than a regular patrol officer — so they can maintain the high salaries they had enjoyed when they were offered overtime for detective work, Kilcullen said. He did offer hope for next year, saying the 10 new officers would help cut down on overtime since they will no longer be in training. “I don’t expect to see the overtime” next year, he said. “I think we’ll be closer to what we’re budgeting.” Riggi wasn’t convinced. “I’ve heard that before,” he said. Council members were more amenable to the Fire Department, which regularly finishes the year under budget. The 2014 proposed budget eliminated a deputy chief, but Della Rocco urged the council to restore that position. “I can see no reason to cut a position that is absolutely necessary,” he said, explaining the deputy oversees training and emergency medical service. “We cannot eliminate training, we just cannot.” The department has five other deputies, who manage hazardous materials and the firefighters. Della Rocco said he could not move any of them to training. Given that, Councilwoman Leesa Perazzo said she would “thoroughly support” funding the sixth deputy chief. But she added the Fire Department’s total budget, after raises, the sixth deputy and other costs, was increasing by $500,000. That, she said, was a difficult amount to fund. Della Rocco proposed finding other places to cut within his department to “offset some of that cost.” The deputy chief would be paid $79,800. Tonight, the council will review budget lines for codes, engineering and general service administration, beginning at 5 p.m.
The newly hired collections company keeps 25 percent of what it collects!
25% of nothing is still nothing.
Parking tickets are a losing proposition.
Adding more hands to the operation and giving away 25% will ensure the system will continue to run a deficit.
Plus the newly purchased gold mine meters will lose $1,400 for each event at Proctors.
Assuming all the spots are filled at the $10 price tag.
Come to Schenectady!
It's safe.
Trust us.
While we pick your pocket.
This is what's commonly known as a cluster f*ck.
A bankrupt city, hiring outsiders to collect parking fines.
That idiotic method worked so well when these same morons hired outsiders to collect back taxes.
The whole idea of spending $150 million remodeling downtown was to attract people.
Now the idiots concentrate on driving them away with brainless money losing parking schemes.
And all the council members sat with their mouths wide open in disbelief that they had been duped by the police, the collections company and didn't get a wooden nickel for all their dreaming and wishing.
Incompetent morons.
They will likely find a way to spend their way out of this mess.
Illegal Police Department Activity Threaten to Bankrupt Counties Nationwide
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 8:09 0
(Before It's News)
The Truth Behind The News
susanne_posel_news_ police-state-002Susanne Posel Occupy Corporatism February 7, 2013
Local police departments (LPDs) across the nation are incorporated as specialized non-profits. Most LPDs are known to the Secretary of State in their respective state as an association which gives the impression to the average citizen that this is a union. However this is not the case.
The LPDs are contracted by the City Council to preform police services and securitize the city they are hired in. This is the exchange of a local government hiring a private security firm to stabilize the local population and generate revenue for the city through tickets, arrests and recording infractions. However, this does not include upholding local laws, as the County Sheriff’s Office is elected to take charge of.
The problem with this system is that the LPDs, being corporations, are subject to corporate law. And corporations fall into dissolution (i.e. the termination of the corporation) for various reasons quite often. When it is the LPD that dissolves; this becomes a question of legal authority over the citizens by the hired private security firm known as the LPD.
Corporations that dissolve are not allowed by law to conduct business. These same rules apply to the LPD that is actually a corporation hired by the local government or city council to preform police services.
For example, in the State of Oregon, over 12 LPDs are in dissolution. On the Secretary of State website, when a LPD is dissolved it is classified as “INA” or inactive. This includes LPDs in the following cities:
• Beaverton • Canby • Charleston • Eugene • Gresham • King County • Lake Oswego • Lebanon • Portland • Sherwood • Weston
According to corporate law, if a corporation dissolves, it must withdraw as a business entity. This means that once the LPD is dissolved, they cannot continue to perform police services for the city in which they were hired.
And in fact, should this be brought to the public, it might be common place (as it is in the State of Oregon) that LPDs are in dissolution and not legally allowed to conduct police services because they lack legal authority as a dissolved corporation.
It also stands that the local governments that are privy to this information would be involved in not only egregious corruption but are knowingly misleading the citizens of their towns and cities. Once the LPD is dissolved, from the date of dissolution, any arrest, ticket, or police service preformed is now an illegal act. It is tantamount to a citizen impersonating a police officer which as serious legal ramifications.
Should citizens become aware of this fact in their city – that their LPD is a corporation that has dissolved and is continuing to operate as if they have legal right to do so – there would be justified legal recourse for every citizen who had been arrested, jailed, forced to pay a ticket of any kind and forced to appear in municipal court under those circumstances (including court costs, attorney’s fees and fees attributed by the court).
In 2012, Louis F. Quijas, Assistant Secretary of the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (OSLLE), for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained the purpose of the OSLLE as a front “office that provided coordination and partnership with state, local, and tribal law enforcement.”
The OSLLE was recommended by the 9/11 Commission. It was created to “lead the coordination of DHS-wide policies relating to state, local, and tribal law enforcement’s role in preventing acts of terrorism and to serve as the primary liaison between non-Federal law enforcement agencies across the country and the Department.”
Intelligence is disseminated through OSLLE to LPDs or “non-Federal law enforcement partners” to keep information flowing through initiatives such as the “If You See Something, Say Something™”, the Blue Campaign, the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI), and the Department’s efforts in Countering Violent Extremism.
OSLLE consistently works with LPDs on education, actionable information, operations and intelligence for the purpose of their part in the operations of the DHS with regard to keeping “our homeland safe”.
OSLLE also works as a liaison between LPDs to maintain DHS leadership and considerations of “issues, concerns, and requirements of state, local, and tribal law enforcement during budget, grant, and policy development processes.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) upholds relationships with LPDs for the purposes of and participation with National Preparedness Grant Program that began this year.
To ensure that local police departments continue to meet the requirements of training from DHS, officers regularly attend the DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia.
LPDs are focused through OSLLE and DHS to “remain vigilant and to protect our communities from all threats, whether terrorism or other criminal activities” as DHS expands its control over local law enforcement and the communities they oversee.
As stated in the DHS directive from the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (SLLE), the assistant Secretary for SLLE has “the primary official responsible for leading the coordination of Department-wide policies related to the role of state, tribal, and local law enforcement in preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to natural disasters, acts of terrorism and other man- made disasters within the US.”
This directive also sets guidelines of advocacy for DHS by the LPDs. Authorization of DHS to take over LPDs is given in Title 6 of the United States Code, Section 607, “Terrorism prevention”.
In 2008, the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that LPD “make up more than two-thirds of the 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies in the US” which translates to an estimated 12,501 law enforcement agencies. Of those LPDs, there are more than 461,000 sworn officers.
Last year President Obama signed an executive order (EO) that created the White House Homeland Security Partnership Council and Steering Committee which tied DHS to local partnerships, federal and private institutions “to address homeland security challenges.”
Members of the Steering Committee include:
• Department of State • Department of US Treasury • Department of Defense • Department of Justice • Department of Transportation • Department of Veterans Affairs • The Federal Bureau of Investigations
In 2011, Congress encouraged private sector “police companies” to replace law enforcement on the State and local level by coercing a new police protection insurance that would tack on a fee to citizens for the use of “police protection”.
This move was justified by having citizens pay for the police to be called to scenes as a “communal service” that is contractual just as any other service or good is paid for. As a customer, the citizen would tell 911 dispatch their insurance information for payment purposes to be billed after the police were deployed to the scene, or services were rendered.
Turning LPDs into private security firms that provide services to the public was the scheme behind privatizing law enforcement.
Under state government contract, private security firms preform law enforcement services. With legislative bodies on both the state and Congressional level supporting this change, private corporations enter into contractual agreements with city councils to provide armed security patrol. Just as a rent-a-cop is hired to secure private property, local police departments are masked rent-a-cops that were hired by local government to secure their city.
This fact has been hidden from public scrutiny and has added to the blending of social perception of what the police are and what they do so that police services are able to function without question. At the same time, citizens are expected to pay fees for these “services” that were once inherent to life in a structured town or city.
In early 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report entitled “Homeland Security and Intelligence: Next Steps in Evolving the Mission” which outlined in part on how to redirect efforts of the federal government from international terrorism toward home-grown terrorists and build a DHS-controlled police force agency that would control all cities and towns through the use of local police departments.
DHS maintains that “the threat grows more localized” which necessitates the militarization of local police in major cities in the US and the training of staff from local agencies to make sure that oversight is restricted to the federal government.
Private corporations have been parading as public servants policing cities and towns across America without the knowledge of the average citizen for quite some time. Although they wear the same badges as LPDs of the past, these private security firms are not there to uphold peace or enforce any laws and city ordinances. Just like any other corporation, they seek out opportunities to collect revenue for the benefit of the city that hired them.
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
less attention to that....and more attention to those who don't observe the other driving laws..
STOP SIGNS....SPEEDING.....TESTING AND CELL PHONE USE...
if the police were more vigilent and look for this......it's easy to issue parking tickets....
but drivers spped by school zones....not courteous to pedestrians.....never use their turn signals...or leave them on and slow down if you are behind them.
so much more to concentrate on....and not just who is parking where....
I agree with you, Patches. The city is rife with speeders, people who think left turns are a game of 'chicken', failing to maintain lane, completely ignoring yield signs, rolling through stop signs, speeding, racing... forget about yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks. If the police did more of this short-term 'nuisance' work, it would have long term results that would improve conditions in the city. They had to farm out the downtown parking tickets, I believe, because our antiquated system was such a shambles no one wanted to deal with it. It is the city workers who exploited the parking the most, downtown, and they had free parking provided! Remember BS wanted to "remodel" the front stairs of historic city hall, just so he didn't have to walk around to a side door in winter? Interesting, the chief admits that there has been widespread gaming of the system on OT.
The newly hired collections company keeps 25 percent of what it collects!
25% of nothing is still nothing.
Parking tickets are a losing proposition.
Adding more hands to the operation and giving away 25% will ensure the system will continue to run a deficit.
Plus the newly purchased gold mine meters will lose $1,400 for each event at Proctors.
Assuming all the spots are filled at the $10 price tag.
Come to Schenectady!
It's safe.
Trust us.
While we pick your pocket.
This is what's commonly known as a cluster f*ck.
A bankrupt city, hiring outsiders to collect parking fines.
That idiotic method worked so well when these same morons hired outsiders to collect back taxes.
The whole idea of spending $150 million remodeling downtown was to attract people.
Now the idiots concentrate on driving them away with brainless money losing parking schemes.
And all the council members sat with their mouths wide open in disbelief that they had been duped by the police, the collections company and didn't get a wooden nickel for all their dreaming and wishing.
Incompetent morons.
They will likely find a way to spend their way out of this mess.
Why wouldnt they have Wakefield do the collections? We are giving up over $500,000 to have someone else collect? This is utter incompetence. How many of these are repeat parking offenders? How many of these parking violators have warrants for their arrest etc. ?
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
this is just yet another reason why folks/scum/drug dealers/welfare frauds come to Schenectady NY!!!
You can get away with just about anything....
Schenectady, NY should be called the 'dumb and dumber city'!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Went downtown today, not that I wanted to, but nephew having a birthday and he likes that Bombers, reluctantly I got him a gift card. Able to get a parking spot easily--are they really thinking they are going to make money on parking spots? As I'm crossing the street to walk toward Bombers, saw McCheese and some white haired guy coming out of that Johnny's. Coming out of Bombers walking back to the car ( NOT a lot of people walking around despite it obviously being lunchtime) but was approached by a black guy wearing a dress, carrying a purse, cigarette, asking if I have I have a lighter to use.
Glad to get in the car and get outta there.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Select UNL parking meters feature new pay-by-phone option Story Comments Print Create a hardcopy of this page Font Size: Default font size Larger font size
Posted: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 12:00 am Lorena Carmona | 0 comments Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln often experience this parking catch-22. But now the solution is likely in their pocket: a cellphone. The UNL Parking & Transit Service launched a new system to allow people to feed the meter via cell phone. Super Saver 10 9 Fall campaign 300 x 250 "We are introducing a new service, another payment type that allows customers another parking option," said Dan Carpenter, director of Parking & Transit Services. The pay-by-phone system, also called RingGo, made its way to UNL in June, Carpenter said. Users of the pay-by-phone system must register with the RingGo website. They are required to submit their license plate number, color, make of vehicle and payment details. People can pull their vehicle into one of the designated locations at UNL. The pay-by-phone option is available at all UNL parking meters, the 17th and R streets garage, two different locations on East Campus, Area A at Hardin Hall and Area C just north of the College of Dentistry. The user can call the number on the meter and go through the process of answering how long they plan to stay and what location they are at. The UNL meters run from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and the parking garage is open 24 hours. The hourly rate is $1 per hour or $5 a day. There is a 30-cent transaction fee and users can pay an extra 10 cents to receive a text message to alert them that their time will expire in 10 minutes. At that time students can add additional time with their phone. There is also an application available for iPhones and Androids-based phones. "It takes the meter trouble out of the picture when using this system," Carpenter said. Within the first month, there were 180 transactions and out of those 120 were from recurring users. Carpenter said he believes that this service will be for the more occasional users and will have a higher usage rate among students than among faculty. When a person parks in one of these spots, the meter will continue to say expired. However, parking enforcement will be able to check the RingGo website on their phones or call a dispatch to find out if there's still time on the meter. Parking enforcement officers will use the license plate number to find out if the user's meter is expired. If the license plate has a black box then the vehicle still has time, Carpenter said. A red or yellow box means time has expired. The system has been successful in European countries, Carpenter said. "We were looking for other options for parking," Carpenter added. Other places around the U.S. are also using parking systems similar to this. "We will be the first university using this specific vendor," Carpenter said. He said he gets to attend conferences and has seen companies like RingGo over the years grow in the U.S. "In the parking world, we are seeing lots of partnerships between different parking systems," he said. It is only a matter of time until the UNL pay-by-phone system makes its way across Lincoln. Ken Smith, the parking manager for the City of Lincoln Parking Services said that UNL and Lincoln tried to team up but were unable to do so at the time. "If Mr. Carpenter and I can pull this off, we will have one of the first university and city using the same number," Smith said. It would be a great to get the same vendor then it would be a great collaboration for the university and Lincoln, he said. One UNL student was unsure about the new system. "I don't think it is a good idea," said Justin Jones, a sophomore history major. He said he didn't think it was fair to other people, as those who pay by phone may hog the spots. He said people should stick to getting a permit or feed the meter traditionally – with quarters, dimes and nickels.
you know.....EZPASS....no one will be able to say no.....no one will know what the value of what they paid is....it's just an arbitrary number without substance....
people wont care $10 $2 $5.....it will have no value just like the ezpass....
"thank you Mr. Smith for feeding the meter. I noted that you have a flu shot scheduled. Have a good day"
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Logged
