Cindy Cain: Debit cards for meters a fine idea
April 7, 2012 12:00AM
Joliet parking meters may become debit-card friendly. | File photo
Updated: May 9, 2012 8:11AM
I am partly responsible for the city of Joliet’s deficit reduction.
My $10 parking ticket got “lost” in my briefcase for several weeks and it quickly mushroomed to $40. But I paid up so the city wouldn’t haul me off to jail.
Odds are I will get another ticket because I never have cash on me. When the city hiked the meter fees and required a bagfull of quarters for downtown visits, I was doomed.
But help might be on the way.
As I poured out my tale of parking meter woes to City Manager Tom Thanas, he said there is a move afoot to allow debit cards to be used in city meters and parking garages.
The switch would be “for those of you who are tired of fumbling around with quarters,” Thanas said. Debit-card friendly parking meters would be part of the multimillion-dollar Multi-Modal Transportation Center, he said.
Until then, don’t be surprised if you see me standing in line at City Hall paying my parking fines.
Keep on truckin’
In recent weeks, I wrote about Virgil Kemp and his mission to clean the city’s streets of litter and Cathy Kay and her 47 years as the co-owner of George Kay’s Music Store.
Here’s one fact that didn’t make it into the stories: Both of them are in great shape!
Virgil walks or bikes all over town because he doesn’t have a car. Cathy has been a lifelong dancer. They are both examples of what exercise can do for us as we age. So keep moving everyone!
Tribute jam
Speaking of Cathy Kay, a bunch of musicians are getting together to honor Cathy and her late husband, George, as the music store closes for good on April 15.
The Farewell Tribute Jam is set for 5-9 p.m. Tuesday at the store, 822 Plainfield Road.
Not every business gets a tribute, so I asked one of the organizers, Bob Misiurewicz, who is being assisted by friend and fellow musician Harvey “T-Bird Huck” Huckstep, why the Kays, whose real last name is Knezevic, were special.
“Because they’re real people with heart, entrepreneurs who put it all on the line to open and maintain a business on their own,” he said in an email. “Through the years the Kays became friends by treating us fair and respectful. Now it’s our turn to show them how much we’ve appreciated them.”
It was nice to deal with the owners when a musical emergency arose, he added.
“Would one of these big box stores leave a set of guitar strings in their mail box for someone if they couldn’t get there before closing on Saturday ... and let me pay ’em back on Monday? George did.”
Contributions made in George Knezevic’s name will be collected and donated to the American Cancer Society. He died of lung cancer in 1996.
