Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald Editor Sept. 2, 2010

Village meters mislead parkers

To the Editor:

The other evening at around 6:30, I happened to park my car at one of the parking meters on Sunrise Highway between Park and Morris. To see whether I needed to feed the meter, I looked at the instructions on its face and saw, in large, bold, black numbers, "9 a.m.-6 p.m."

I said to myself: "You're clear. It's 6:30." But then I saw, two cars ahead, a meter officer busily writing out a ticket. I sauntered over to him and said, "Why are you giving this car a ticket?"

He said, "Because the meter has run out."

I said, "But it's after 6 p.m."

He beckoned me to the meter and pointed to the lower part of the instructions, where it read, in fine print, "6:30-midnight, one quarter provides 50 minutes of parking."

Most people's eyes will stop at the bold print; few people will be drawn to the hidden instructions at the bottom, particularly at night, or for those with some form of visual weakness like many of the elderly.

When I mentioned this disparity in type size to the officer, he said, "Yeah, I get a lot of complaints about that." And he merrily continued to write lots more tickets to unsuspecting parkers along that stretch of the highway. I went back to my car and quickly put a couple of quarters in the slot.

I think it is grossly unfair, and unethical besides, to hoodwink citizens with uncalled-for visual psychological chicanery to mislead them. I recommend, I insist, that the village change the label on the face of the meters so that both 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and 6 p.m.-midnight labels are equally visible to inform people that meters have to be fed from morning until midnight.

Paul Keller

Rockville Centre

New meter fees turn people away

To the Editor:

Recently our village decided that it was a good idea to change the parking meter fees and time allowed for the new fees. We now pay 50 cents, not for an hour, but for 50 minutes, and along Merrick Road, which is near the banks, Panera Bread and other village businesses, there is a one-hour limit per meter.

What is the village trying to do, turn away more people from shopping, doing business and eating in our village? These new meter fees make no sense at all, unless of course they're designed to get residents frustrated, mad and fed up with the way Rockville Centre treats people looking to spend time and money in our village. If that was the objective, congratulations — mission accomplished!

Bob Wolf

Rockville Centre