Downtown parking meter installations delayed

The arrival in downtown Las Vegas of multi-space parking meters capable of taking debit and credit cards in addition to coins will be delayed at least 30 days.

The City Council voted 4-3 Wednesday to postpone approval of a $1.4 million contract with meter provider Parkeon because council members wanted more time to evaluate the plan.

Mayor Carolyn Goodman and council members Bob Coffin, Ricki Barlow and Lois Tarkanian voted for the delay. Mayor Pro Tem Stavros Anthony and council members Steve Ross and Bob Beers voted against.

Tarkanian said council members, particularly those who represent the areas where meters will be installed, should have been included in the decision to pick a multi-space meter provider to replace the current single-space meters. The public, Tarkanian said, should also be included.

"When there are problems in parking in our ward they come to us," Tarkanian said. "I feel quite strongly the public should be a large part of the decision making."

Other council members who supported the proposal seemed eager to get the meters in place as soon as possible.

"The last parking ticket I received was because I did not have any quarters," Councilman Bob Beers said. "The convenience of being able to swipe and park is considered really advantageous."

Mayor Pro Tem Stavros Anthony said he, too, was looking forward to replacing the coin-only meters now in place downtown.

"I don't know how old those parking meters are downtown, but they should go in a museum," he said.

Brandy Stanley, the city's parking division manager, said she will work to answer council members' questions about security, ease of use and other potential parking meter issues in time for the Feb. 20 council meeting, when the item could be heard again.

The proposed contract is to replace about 1,200 single-space meters with 233 multi-space meters that can cover about six spaces each.

The meters would be installed downtown and in the medical district, an area between Charleston Boulevard and Alta Drive west of Interstate 15.

They're manufactured by Parkeon, a New Jersey company that has sold meters for more than 3 million spaces in 3,000 cities in 50 countries.

Tarkanian and Coffin led the way on pushing for a delay.

They asked Stanley questions about the technology, the level of public involvement in the decision and about problems other communities have had with multi-space meters.

Stanley defended the decision by the committee to recommend Parkeon, which offers only multi-space meters.

Single-space meters never will be able to provide things such as a larger screen," Stanley said. "You will never be able to fit a printer in a single-space meter. The real estate a single-space meter has limits the technology."

Council members weren't the only ones questioning the decision-making process. Conservative political activist Chuck Muth sent letters to council members criticizing the process.

"It's one thing to keep the bidding secret during deliberations; it's another thing to rush a vote on the recommendation before a member of the public who requested information on the bidding has even been provided the information he requested," Muth wrote in an email to council members on Tuesday.

Despite the delay, Parkeon still has an inside track for the contract, having been chosen to negotiate further with the city. The advantage will remain if the two sides are still negotiating, city spokesman Jace Radke said.

However, the situation could get more complicated if City Council members or the public demand single-space meters, which Parkeon doesn't provide.

During the discussion about whether to delay the approval, City Manager Betsy Fretwell warned council members any delay could drag the process on longer than the 30-day postponement the council voted for.

"It would slow us down, and obviously there could be some unintended consequences," Fretwell said. "Anyone who wanted to be in the running may lobby you for the next month and a half. It may slow things down further."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285 .