Yankee 2.0 on Posterous

This is a story I missed because, well, I hadn't gotten a ticket in Portland, Maine for quite sometime. But when I got one today, I thought, "I wonder if they still forgive a couple of tickets a year?" Turns out they ended it on July 1, in an effort to collect the $500,000/year they think they were losing out on.

I can't check the numbers, but it is a little sad that they made the decision. I didn't go looking for tickets to meet my forgiveness quota - but if I was in downtown Portland for lunch and really wanted dessert, or to continue shopping, I could without feeling the dread that I'd get a ticket. It made Portland a nicer place than most...

But I get it. Cities and towns need money. But that's where the logic breaks down. Parking meters, in theory, shouldn't be revenue generators. The original point of meters, etc., is to create turnover - to get new commerce into the city. The money pays for the enforcement. When you change that scenario to one that most communities have ("Hey, we can make money off this!"), you're forgetting that each ticket is someone whose experience in the city was a little less enjoyable. Maybe they'll stay for less time. Maybe they'll skip that extra store or that extra course (both of which are more valuable than the ticket they're avoiding.) Or maybe, they'll just skip going into town altogether. After all, I can get that stuff online, right?

If you're Newbury St., the possible ticket may be a cost of shopping. If you're Exchange St. in Portland, there aren't quite as many guarantees.

And I don't mean to pick on Portland here. I love the city, and I will go back over and over and over. But it's something for communities to think about. Customer experience isn't just for the stores to worry about. And towns have more to worry about than whether there is parking available. They control the first impression a shopper has of a community, and the last impression they get.

And in the long run, that impression may be just the ticket for return business.