Parking fees for the 2 blocks parking along A1A near the Minuteman Causeway (Cocoa: credit card)

[Rabflmom]

This is crazy. Need a smartphone to pay to park. $2.50 an hour to park on weekends and holidays? Guess we ate at those restaurants along that strip for the last time on weekends. I have a "dumb phone" so won't have the access to pay by phone.

It seems way discriminatory against older folks who tend not to have I-phones and who have paid off all credit cards and pay cash for everything and who may never have had a debit card and use checks for everything.

Looks like the best thing to do is buy the parking pass if you like to frequent the places up there; but at $50 or $60 a year am not sure we would be up there enough to warrant it. So cocoa Beach anywhere around the Minute Way Causeway just lost this family from South Brevard. We will find places to go elsewhere.

[Carrie8038]

Interesting. We'll be down there in a couple of weeks looking at the communities and such....is there no way at all to pay using coins or even a debit card?

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by Carrie8038

Interesting. We'll be down there in a couple of weeks looking at the communities and such....is there no way at all to pay using coins or even a debit card?

There are still some meter parking in the area but if the pay by phone is a hit they will eventually replace them with the pay by phone parking places. There are lots of beach areas in other parts of the county where you can park for free to go to the beach etc. Even in Cocoa Beach the county parks have free parking. The pay by phone is just a 2 block area where younger beach goers tend to head to the beach at and the bars . I guess they figure they all have smart phones and will be willing to pay to play on the beach.
One thing I missed when I read it this morning is they will only be charging to park from 8AM to 5PM so aiming at the beach goers. Won't have to pay to park if just going to the restaurants for dinner after 5PM.

[engineman]

I don't even have a "dumb" phone.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by engineman

I don't even have a "dumb" phone.

On WESH news this morning they told people to bring their phone if going to the beach in Cocoa Beach today. As I was watching I got to thinking....which is probably dangerous..... but OK I scan the sign and put in the # of the parking place and charge it to my credit card. Then each hour I have to go back and scan the sign? How do they know when to quit charging me? Are they still going to have a meter maid out there putting a $30 ticket on my car or is it mailed to me or e-mailed? It justs seems unreal to me.

The other question ....if you have an I-phone and go on line, there has to be wifi in the area for you to get on line doesn't there? . Or do you get on line from your own internet connection? I am so phone and I-pad illiterate, I don't know how they work. Besides that I would need a huge phone in order to read the little print on the screen and I can't even see the screen on my phone when out in the sun anyway. .

[1insider]

Calm down folks. No smart phone? Just create an account in advance at ParkNOW! Mobile Parking System and then call 321.328.8566 from any phone with your parking spot number and add whatever time you need. If you run over your time you can call and add credit, even from a dumb phone. They've been doing this in Athens, GA and other cities for years. We may not like it but it's only going to spread. There are still free spots in downtown Cocoa Beach if you know where to look or parking lots that will only charge $5 for all day.

[1insider]

The whole system has been suspended by the City. Ya'll can come back to the beach now. free parking.

[Manuel de Vol]

You've been here for far longer than I have, Rabflmom and I would've assumed that you would've been far more familiar with (and far more tolerant of) local morés than am !.

BUT:

I don't pay to park.

I work(ed - now retired) and I paid taxes on what I earned -I still pay tax on my bloody pension [notwithstanding that man's promise a few years ago]

I paid taxes on the car when I bought it.
I pay tax on the gas [15% of which is crap and I don't get a refund for running on weak beer] when I drive it.

I'm not prepared to pay any additonal taxes/surcharges to get out of the bloody car!

If the community - any community -wants to charge me money to spend money in that community, then they are pissing up against the wrong tree.

When I spend my money in a community - any community - then I am doing them a favour.

Something alongthe lines of ' the customer may not always be right, but the customer is always the customer and it's the customer who pays my pay check.'

A sort of 'dated' argument, perhaps?

If a community - and that includes communities in Brevard County - doesn't want me to spend my money there I will spend it elsewhere.

I pay more than enough money to drive my car. I'm buggered if I'm going to pay to not drive [park] it.

[1insider]

Hold on. I think you misunderstood my post. Parking on the street in Cocoa Beach is now FREE, no charge. I never supported the pay-to-park program nor was I even tolerant of it. The push-back from citizens like me is why the program was suspended. Now if we could just get the City to get rid of the ill-conceived Beach Rangers squad ....