Parking meters for Cabarete?

I got a parking ticket in Cabarete about 2 weeks ago. It was 300 RD if paid the same day or 500 otherwise. Still haven't paid it.

liam1 said:

I got a parking ticket in Cabarete about 2 weeks ago. It was 300 RD if paid the same day or 500 otherwise. Still haven't paid it.

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I wouldn't pay it either if there is no recourse.

I am still waiting for my licence plate for the scooter I bought last august so if they give me a ticket I hope they enter my non existent plate number into their intelligence.

No Checks - No Balances

Not that I'm asking for any.

LOL

CFA123 said:

Sosua News is reporting that the powers that be in Cabarete have decided to install parking meters in the near future.

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This would work well if only there were parking spaces in Cabarete.

Chris

Wait a second here. They can't enforce the one side of the street parking how are they ever going to enforce the meter time????
Another excercise in stupidity..... and the beat goes on....

Bob K

Who's going to guard the meters that are full of money? I hope they have a big supply of meters. They'll have to replace them every other day.

"Who's going to guard the meters that are full of money? I hope they have a big supply of meters. They'll have to replace them every other day."
oriole

Flashes of "Cool Hand Luke".

"No Checks - No Balances
Not that I'm asking for any."
Mike I

Amen, brother.

The best job in Cabarette: Meter box collectors.
Second best job in Cabarette: Lovely Rita, meter maid

They just created at least 4 new jobs. The Supervisor, The Mete Collector, The Meter Maid, and The Meter Guard. Truly Gov. at work. Oh I forgot they all have to have helpers.

There was a meeting of businesses and others a week ago in Bambu. Another one this week which I didn't attend. Any of you there?

Businesses complained of residents using street parking for long-term parking, not leaving spaces for customers. Others complain that delivery trucks block traffic for lack of space to park to deliver. Others that taxi cabs and car rental companies take too many spaces. They are looking for a solution to this situation. The parking meters option was discussed and will be studied as part of a larger plan which will include limiting the spaces for cab drivers and car rental companies, and separating some spaces as "loading/unloading zones" during the day.

I don't know whether the parking meters is the best solution or not, but they seem work well in downtown Santiago.

I saw some cars being "booted"

Feb 09 while walking on the south side of the highway I saw a few "boots" awaiting instalation and at least one vehicle that had the device attached to it's wheel. Who is installing those devices and on whose behalf/authority?

When there is the next coin shortage will we be able to use halls cough drops from Playero change?

First, If you look at how parking meters killed most small towns in the U.S. and now, even in Santiago, folks are shopping where they don’t have to pay a meter, do we want that to happen in Cabarete? I agree that some people take a spot for days at a time, but a meter will not change that.
Second, and this is only rumor, is that the Mafia has gotten involved in city hall. If you get towed, you pay 2,500RD, if you park in the wrong place, regardless of yellow curb or not, you get ticketed and if you’re a friend of someone in power or a taxi, you can do anything you want including double park.
Last, in regards to the unfair treatment. Cabarete is billing business owners 25 times last years tax rate for road signs, plus it’s a different rate for Dominican and Gringo businesses.

Expat-in-Cabarete said:

Businesses complained of residents using street parking for long-term parking, not leaving spaces for customers. Others complain that delivery trucks block traffic for lack of space to park to deliver. Others that taxi cabs and car rental companies take too many spaces. They are looking for a solution to this situation.

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These are legitimate complaints.

How can a town like Cabarete not have a parking lot?

Even when the beach is mostly empty it can be near impossible to find a parking spot.

Bob Boyd said:

First, If you look at how parking meters killed most small towns in the U.S. and now, even in Santiago, folks are shopping where they don?t have to pay a meter, do we want that to happen in Cabarete? I agree that some people take a spot for days at a time, but a meter will not change that.
Second, and this is only rumor, is that the Mafia has gotten involved in city hall. If you get towed, you pay 2,500RD, if you park in the wrong place, regardless of yellow curb or not, you get ticketed and if you?re a friend of someone in power or a taxi, you can do anything you want including double park.
Last, in regards to the unfair treatment. Cabarete is billing business owners 25 times last years tax rate for road signs, plus it?s a different rate for Dominican and Gringo businesses.

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All these issues were discussed at the business owners meetings, including the involvement of some very powerful people in the ayuntamiento. One more issue which was discussed was the outrageous and mandatory charge for garbage pick up. Businesses are organizing to try to solve all these problems and clean out the ayuntamiento. But I'm sure you'll understand that that is no easy undertaking in the DR. The proposition that came from that meeting I attended, which in my view was ways too politicized by wannabe Mayors of Cabarete, was to strike on April 28 and 29. They expected all businesses, including hotels and restaurants to close down for a strike on both days. Other people and organizations got involved to try to negotiate with the ayuntamiento and avoid this silly idea of striking. Sorry, I do find it a very silly idea that will harm the town more than it'll help. A demonstration on the street is one thing; but paralyzing the town for a couple of days!

Maybe Sackman Enterprises will built an artificial island with the 500 parking places they originally promised?

what are the outrageous prices for rubbish collection ? businesses in uk have to buy their own bin bags at inflated prices and also pay taxes for collection it seems cheaper here unless Im missing something

jrhartley said:

what are the outrageous prices for rubbish collection ? businesses in uk have to buy their own bin bags at inflated prices and also pay taxes for collection it seems cheaper here unless Im missing something

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I definately see the correlation between parking and rubbish!

Well, if you don't think that going from 2,000 pesos to 9,000 for a business is not outrageous, so be it. I don't particularly care what people pay in the UK. The new charges apply to everyone, including people in the barrios. If you have a hotel, you pay per room, whether occupied or unoccupied, high season or low season. The contractor got a 20 year contract, irrevocable, to pick up the garbage for the entire town. There's a law suit pending on this issue; hopefully it'll be resolved.

Seems to me enforcement of the current one-side parking law and creating a couple of loading zones and designating a few taxi/rental spots would solve the majority of the problem. They've finally put up "official" signs on the few municipal parking lots in town which would hold the majority of cars that currently park on one side of the street (except for holidays), but it all comes down to simple enforcement.

The road through Cabarete is sufficiently wide in most parts that if they strictly enforce no parking on the non-beach side, no double parking, and no delivers/loading/unloading next to a parked car, there'd be room for two cars, trucks, or even buses to pass without a problem.

As for the resident parking, tow any car parked one hour after the bars close, problem solved and at the beginning at least, a little revenue generated for the town. You could also chalk the tires if you want to have a time limit on parking, but if there's going to be any legal parking, the time has to be flexible for beach goers, diners, bars, etc.

Ultimately, residents, taxis, and rental agencies should pay for their parking if they don't have the use of private property. Even with a little cronyism and favors to a few drivers/operators, if they follow a logical and realistic plan (I know, I know...not gonna happen), the majority of the problem could be resolved without a bypass road or satellite parking lot...although those things should finally be taken seriously and implemented. If and when they do happen, this will at worst hae been a good stop-gap solution.

Correction

As anyone who attended the parking meeting referred to in the quoted Sosua News article knows, the article misrepresented the meeting. I am identified in the article as the President of the Hotel and Restaurant association. That position is held by one of the other organizers of the meeting who is shown in the photograph of the article. I am the President of ADECA. Immediately after Semana Santa, the two of us agreed with the Ayuntamiento and the local representative of the Secretariat of Turism to hold this public meeting in order to get a formal reversal of restrictions against parking on either side of the main road that were put in place during Semana Santa. The Ayuntamiento agreed to do so and there was an agreement to try and restrict the number of parking spaces used by parked rental cars and taxis and to designate loading zones for truck deliveries so as to reduce or eliminate the problem of double parked delivery trucks.

The purpose of the meeting was to address the immediate problem of confusion caused by the Semana Santa regulations. Longer-term solutions need to be considered for parking, including the establishment of public parking lots, and the Secretario of Tourism annouced the same week that they will finance the establishment of a public lot in Cabarete. The Sindico explained that the Ayuntamiento plans to develop overall proposals following further study. The discussion of parking meters came up in the context of what needs to be analyzed in this study. It is one obvious way to encourage employees and owners of businesses in the center of town, and others, to not occupy all day long the few street side parking spaces available once acceptable public parking lots are established.

Most people in Cabarete recognize that a comprehensive long-term solution to parking is needed, and that current problems will only get worse with Cabarete's growth. Most people would also agree, as everyone in that meeting did, that any plan developed needs to be amply vetted with the public.