Here is the letter-to-the-editor I sent into the Sentinel which was published last Sunday.
I am still interested in discussing any concerns anyone has.
Letter Below:
You may have heard about the “Stop Free Keene” group. I see this development as positive, since I believe that if someone has concerns with other people’s actions, they should let others know, a principle that Free Keene shares.
Unfortunately, my admiration for the group is offset by the rhetoric I’ve seen from the group. Often, many comments on their Facebook group are negative. They often resort to name calling, personal attacks and even advocating for violence toward bloggers of Free Keene. I’m fine with someone disagreeing and calling names, but it’s not OK to think violence is acceptable.
One Stop Free Keene member posted a picture of a Free Keene blogger with a laser dot illuminated on his head and torso. Under this picture was a rifle with a laser aiming device attached. Stop Free Keene deleted the post, but the Stop Free Keene member who posted the picture is still in the group and no public announcement was made denouncing the person or his post.Many Stop Free Keene members wear Emerson Towing hoodies. In this video, https://youtu.be/MH_APg3JcvY, an employee of Emerson can be seen threatening a former Free Keene blogger. Many Stop Free Keene members stated they support this behavior. Other Stop Free Keene members have also made threats and are still in the group. Conversely, a Free Keene blogger was removed over concerns that he may
not be a peaceful individual because of allegations regarding his language.
.
There is further evidence that parking enforcement is no doubt the most unpopular “service” that is provided by the city of Keene. Another petition, this time with 27 signatures, has been sent from downtown business owners to the city council. In the petition (pg 10-12), the business owners oppose the proposed parking rate and time changes proposed by parking director Gary Lamoureux. Mr. Lamoureux proposed that the meter rates be increased, the violations be increased, and parking hours be extended (9AM – 7PM) to try to resolve the problem of exploding costs (26% increase over the last six years) and slow-growing revenues (3.5% increase over the same last six years) in the parking department.
You may recall that there was an earlier petition by downtown business owners that was sent to the city council. In that petition (pg 9-10), 30 downtown business owners also opposed the rate increases and suggested the city instead seek ways to cut costs instead. I also collected 643 petition signatures, see pg 79-80 (Note: not all the signed pages were in the committee’s packet since I had over 38 pages). I had no problem getting downtown workers and shoppers to oppose the rate increases with the help of a few downtown businesses and some other volunteers. I submitted these signatures to the Finance, Organization, and Personnel Committee last week.
It’s clear to me that the business owners, shoppers, and workers of the Keene downtown don’t want to have pay more for tickets and meters. Instead, I agree with the business owners that a cost reduction plan should be implemented in the parking department to address the projected cost increases for the next six years that are currently estimated to grow by 16% by Mr. Lamoureux. It’ll be interesting to see if the city councilors ignore the business owners, workers, and shoppers and raise the rates anyway.
I will break down the parking budget in a future post and suggest some ways to cut costs in the parking department so rates wouldn’t have to increase.
Robin Hood of Keene, in solidarity with the city, will attempt to expand the holiday week of free downtown parking in Keene, New Hampshire by an additional day. In an effort to not annoy holiday shoppers, City of Keene will not demand change from drivers parked at metered parking spaces from December 18th though December 25th. Robin Hood’s Merry People will be saving driver’s from parking tickets from 9:00AM to 5:00PM on Tuesday, December 17th.
This is the first time that Robin Hood of Keene and City of Keene have partnered together to help drivers and downtown Keene based store owners. If this test run works well, Robin Hood of Keene and City of Keene may partner together in future endeavors.
In a recent Keene Sentinel article, the “city” is doing a trial run of the Park Mobile System. This move is good news for the following reasons:
First, adoption of this technology will likely reduce the 29,170 (FY13 Goal, pg 212) tickets issued by parking enforcers, their primary task, thus making enforcement more obsolete. If people use this new system, their chance of receiving a parking ticket will be greatly reduced because they can receive alerts reminding them when their meters are about to expire. Additionally, they may be able to extend their time remotely through the Park Mobile App adding more time to their session if they need it. Furthermore, the number of tickets issued because people who did not have change or enough change is also likely to go down since there will be an additional way of paying for the meters.
On Monday, August 12 2013, at the “Superior” courthouse here in Keene, I was sprayed with water by a man who works for the “local government.” After being cooped up in the court house for four hours, I decided to enjoy the outdoors for a bit during the lunch break of the Robin Hood evidentiary hearing. After enjoying a sandwich outside with friends, I decided to draw some artwork on the sidewalk which prompted a “government” employee to spray me with a hose.
This event demonstrates a lot of interesting things : (more…)
![yinyang[1]](https://i0.wp.com/freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/yinyang1-300x300.jpg?resize=126%2C126)
