The Wilmington City Council will consider the installation of smart parking meters. The installation of the smart meters will be an extension of Mayor Dennis Williams’ Wilmington RISE campaign, which seeks to make Wilmington Clean, Safe and Smart, according to a city release.
The mayor asked a key city council member to participate in the process.
For the past five months, Mayor Dennis Williams and his administration worked to develop methods to address parking concerns in the city.
“It was a natural fit to include the involvement of Councilmember Hanifa Shabazz in the review process, since her district includes downtown and the Riverfront, she serves as Chair of the Public Works and Transportation Committee and has been longtime advocate for the parking concerns of residents and visitors,” said Mayor Williams.
The installation of new smart meters will assist in making the city more visitor friendly as the meters will accept credit cards; potentially include smartphone applications that alert customers when their time is expiring; allow customers to add time to their meter remotely, and are motion sensitive so when a car leaves the parking spot, the time resets to zero, according to a city release.
After a few early problems, reports indicate the meters have worked well in Rehoboth Beach. Newark has stayed with coin-fed meters.
“For years, parking has been an issue for the city of Wilmington and has deterred people from visiting,” said Williams. “We must bring in new technology to ensure parking is convenient for all of our residents and visitors.”
