Modern Buddy

Looking for a place to park at the mall movie theatre parking lot, I was faked out twice by what looked like empty spots... but were really scoots. I took a third spot.

TVB wrote:Looking for a place to park at the mall movie theatre parking lot, I was faked out twice by what looked like empty spots... but were really scoots. I took a third spot.

Nice.

Wouldn't it be neat if all of the bigger stores' parking lots had like 10 or 15 contiguous motorcycle parking spots...spaces that are not quite half as wide & long as normal parking spots? BUT, I'd like it to be something they decided to do all by themselves, NOT something the government steps in and mandates. We have enough regulations, etc.

Around here if I see a scoot in a spot we park in there with it. Just be sure to allow everyone room to get out.

Both of these scoots were parked dead-center in their spaces (which is why I didn't see them until I got close). I probably could've tucked Flash in with one of them, but that would've seemed a little... space-invasive. And there were plenty of spots open another 50 feet away.

A coworker and I usually leave room for each other in the company lot, so that's a different situation.

I'm on the fence on this - while I would gladly share a parking space with another bike, once when I parked towards the edge of a space, some gomer in a small car jammed himself in right next to me. Since then, I've usually parked not only in the center of the space, but close to the lane (not deep into the space) so that the gomers can see that indeed there's a scoot in there, and not whip right in thinking the space is empty.

if I knew there were going to be a ton of 2 wheelers around, I leave extra room.

In a mall I would want to take up the whole space so some boob doesn't hit the scoot with the bike.

Then again, the temptation to ride it THROUGH the mall might be too much

I parked in a "Fuel Efficient Vehicle Only" marked spot once just to get some $hit from someone who drove only a 40mpg car, Geeze I get twice that....

Typically I'll use the whole spot, I think it may prevent possible 'knock downs' by careless drivers plus, something I learned here, stay near the front of the spot to make the scoot more visible.
I'll only 'share' a spot with another bike if I have permission from the rider of that bike, or obviously with someone I'm riding with.

I 'share' spots where I now work, as I think there are less parking spots than there are employees' vehicles sometimes. I need to get another key cut, as my son and I work the same place, different hours, so I will now only 'share' spots with him and he'd be able to move my scoot out of his way easier.
The other day, much to my chagrin, the 'children' I work with thought it would be funny [ ] to pick up and move my scoot across the parking lot to place it in front of one of the bosses' cars blocking it in (as if I 'shared' his spot)

I started using a whole space at my office since there are plenty of spots out front; the area where I parked before was where the Harley guys would park and it started becoming an issue with who got there first and whose turf it was. It didn't help that it wasn't an official parking area and was close to handicap parking spots. Too much risk of someone backing a luxury SUV into a bunch of scoots and hogs.

Work or mall being equal, I'd think a whole space is considered appropriate.

This is funny timing because I was just "talked-to" about where I park my scooter at my part time job (at a mall).

The vice president of the company that just bought the mall is requiring that all mall employees park more than 4 rows back in the parking lot. Which I understand, keep the front rows for lazy customers.
I've been parking my car in the very back corner of the lot, so some idiot child doesn't fling mommy's car door into the side of my car, since I bought it. It's not a super nice car, but it's spotless, and it's mine. If I can avoid it being dinged up by stupid people I'm going to... because I've seen it happen so many times here with other people and their cars that I've lost count.
My problem is that I want to be able to see my scoot at all times while I'm here. I have seen women lob all of their shopping bags onto my floorboard and seat, so that they have hands free to dig around in their duffelbag-sized purses for their keys. I have seen people sit their children on my seat so that they could take a quick picture with their cell phones... I even saw a guy on a ninja share my space (I make sure to leave room for this so that I couldn't be hassled by the previous owners, because most people with bikes around here are more respectful than this d-bag) get off his bike, then get onto mine and start pushing buttons and poking around at stuff!

So what I do is park as close to the front of my store as possible, I wrote a sign that says not to touch, it's not a toy and it is private property, if anyone has questions they should come in to to the store and ask, I would be happy to talk with them... and that I can see them from my store, with a nice little reminder that the Sheriff's HQ is right down the hall. No one has messed with it since, and I share a space with 1 to 4 different bikes on any busy Monday or Wednesday evening, most of the riders of which usually come in to the store and ask me about my scooter.

Now I have this guy from this new development company saying that I can't do that anymore, and that the new parking policy will be "enforced" beginning April 1st. (yeah, okay) First thing he asks me though was "so is that a Vespa?" in my head I was thinking "so are you a greasy Italian that always wildly and uncontrollably talks with his hands?" (no offense to any of you who are italian, half of my family is 100% italian, and very stereotypical).

Anyway, here's my thing, if my sign didn't say to come in and ask he wouldn't know to whom the bike belonged, for all he knew it could have been a customer's. The same goes for every single vehicle that every single person who works here drives; like the silver Impala that is parked in the first spot of the first row every single day. You can't differentiate between a worker and a customer here as most places here don't require uniforms of any sort, so anyone walking in to any of these stores could be seen as a customer or a worker... so are you just going to require that the first four rows always remain empty?! Noooo. If I come in here next week, and I see that every single spot in the first two rows is taken at 10am (when the mall opens), and I get b!tched at for my scooter again, we're going to have problems.
So anyway, now this guy knows my scooter, and I can just tell by his demeanor that he is going to be making an example of me if I don't abide by the new rules. My point to him was that there's enough room in my space for another bike or two and there are plenty of customers that ride motorcycles, so there really shouldn't be a problem with my scooter being parked in the front four rows. I told him that I had made a deal with the previous mall owner that if I left enough space for another bike to enter and exit the space it was okay for me to park there (they never enforced their "first two-row" rule anyway, but I did this just to be sure).
That's not okay for this guy though. This isn't a super busy mall, we're not even remotely hurting for parking, so why not make a motorcycle-only section for those of us not driving around monster trucks? It can be re-purposed in the winter if necessary, and I would feel much better if my scooter were surrounded by some bigger bikes. I imagine it would be less likely for Jane-Schmane-soccer-mom to put her crap or her kids on my scooter, and most motorcyclists around here are respectful of others' bikes (except for that guy on the ninja, I guess). It would also be less likely for some idiot in a Pontiac G6 convertible with the top down to back square into the side of my scooter... this happened yesterday, not to my scooter, but another person's SUV I don't know how she didn't see the massive thing stopped straight behind her.

[/rant]
I'm just really ticked off about this. I told him if something happens to my scooter while it's parked more than four rows back, he can send me a check for a new one + accessories and all of the gear that's kept under my seat.

...but really I guess it's time to buy some new panels and change the look of my scoot so that he doesn't recognize it at a glance. Maybe take the stripes back off, or actually go through with the rainbow zebra stripe idea that my friend expressed to me a few days ago.

AWinn6889 wrote: This isn't a super busy mall, we're not even remotely hurting for parking, so why not make a motorcycle-only section for those of us not driving around monster trucks? It can be re-purposed in the winter if necessary, and I would feel much better if my scooter were surrounded by some bigger bikes.

I sincerely doubt any property owner is going to spend the time and money to create a space just for two-wheelers unless it's mandated by local code.

Is there a spot in the back you could park it? Back in my retail days the mall had a few areas for dumpsters and the like away from the bigger lots and usually enough space was there for folks to chain up their road bikes and the occasional scooter. You may not be able to see it, but neither would those goons who are giving you reason to worry.

Otherwise you're right, this guy has his eye on you. Sometimes being a scooterist brings more attention than is desired...

Uncle Groucho wrote:

AWinn6889 wrote: This isn't a super busy mall, we're not even remotely hurting for parking, so why not make a motorcycle-only section for those of us not driving around monster trucks? It can be re-purposed in the winter if necessary, and I would feel much better if my scooter were surrounded by some bigger bikes.

I sincerely doubt any property owner is going to spend the time and money to create a space just for two-wheelers unless it's mandated by local code.

Is there a spot in the back you could park it? Back in my retail days the mall had a few areas for dumpsters and the like away from the bigger lots and usually enough space was there for folks to chain up their road bikes and the occasional scooter. You may not be able to see it, but neither would those goons who are giving you reason to worry.

Otherwise you're right, this guy has his eye on you. Sometimes being a scooterist brings more attention than is desired...

Most of the town shopping areas in Saratoga have motorcycle specific parking, but I don't think it's required for a mall in this county.
I work on the now front side of the mall, and there is not one single hidden away space to be had, not even in the back, because there's just more stores and more larger than necessary parking lot...oh, and a skate park. I can park in the far reaches of the parking lot, but the problem is that so many people don't care to drive through the parking lot properly, and fly around at diagonals travelling at 30mph or more. I would not doubt within the first week of my parking back there someone would smash the crap out of my scoot and drive off like nothing happened.

I'm sure someone more familiar with the laws could correct me but:

1) screw him sideways with a hammer.

2) While they do 'own' the mall, I'm not sure under what 'law' they would justify enforcing this. "she used a legal parking space so we towed her scooter..". Again, I dunno what the real laws are, but that sounds pretty iffy.

3) See #1....

If all else fails, maybe get 50cc badges and just park on the sidewalk .

lovemysan wrote:Around here if I see a scoot in a spot we park in there with it. Just be sure to allow everyone room to get out.

x2 we do the same here!

KABarash wrote:I parked in a "Fuel Efficient Vehicle Only" marked spot once just to get some $hit from someone who drove only a 40mpg car, Geeze I get twice that....

Typically I'll use the whole spot, I think it may prevent possible 'knock downs' by careless drivers plus, something I learned here, stay near the front of the spot to make the scoot more visible.
I'll only 'share' a spot with another bike if I have permission from the rider of that bike, or obviously with someone I'm riding with.

I 'share' spots where I now work, as I think there are less parking spots than there are employees' vehicles sometimes. I need to get another key cut, as my son and I work the same place, different hours, so I will now only 'share' spots with him and he'd be able to move my scoot out of his way easier.
The other day, much to my chagrin, the 'children' I work with thought it would be funny [ ] to pick up and move my scoot across the parking lot to place it in front of one of the bosses' cars blocking it in (as if I 'shared' his spot)

I'd use a Xena or a Gorilla alarm that will shriek at them if they think of doing it again.

Not sure about New York but in Michigan there is the "Parked without Owner's Permission." Usually the the owner would have to sign the ticket along with whoever was giving it out and would also have to appear in court as the complainant. Or the owner could provide the police department with a letter stating that parking was not allowed in certain areas by certain vehicles.

skully93 wrote:I'm sure someone more familiar with the laws could correct me but:

1) screw him sideways with a hammer.

2) While they do 'own' the mall, I'm not sure under what 'law' they would justify enforcing this. "she used a legal parking space so we towed her scooter..". Again, I dunno what the real laws are, but that sounds pretty iffy.

3) See #1....

If all else fails, maybe get 50cc badges and just park on the sidewalk .

Because they own the property they are fully within their rights to tow an improperly parked vehicle... just like we had a high school student's car towed off of our front yard last fall. What I would want to see is what they try to do to actually tow a scooter.
The other thing is, I have lots of friends in the Saratoga County Sheriff's Dept. which just so happens to have an HQ in the mall, as well as friends in the company that would likely be used for towing purposes, AND mall security... so I have a feeling the mall jerk wouldn't be able to do anything anyway, because once the name "Ali Winn" is seen or spoken they would probably just tell the guy to screw off. But whatever, I'll park next to the owner of Salad Creations, people can see his giant black truck parked in the middle of the back end of the parking lot, and they don't hit that, so if I'm right next to him they shouldn't hit my scooter either. He's a good guy, and he knows I would steer clear of his truck. It's just annoying, and I'm going to make an even bigger sign that says "Back the eff off my bike! I can see you and I have the sheriffs on speed dial!"

Are there any suitable lightposts or similar you could lock to, or, as was suggested , a back or dumpster area you could propose? Anyways something that mightbe a reasonable if not perfect compromise to get the negotiations out of trading ultimatums mode. You could say you appreciated the time he gave you to come up with a solution and would this nice pole here in row 2 or 3 or 4 or whatever in sightline of your workplace be okay to chain it to, along your new shrieking alarm? Also be sure he knows about the random folks who messed with it before and how this was far and away the best solution you and the previous mgt had found --
after youve shown how reasonable you are by suggesting alternatives yourself.

skully93 wrote:2) While they do 'own' the mall, I'm not sure under what 'law' they would justify enforcing this. "she used a legal parking space so we towed her scooter..". Again, I dunno what the real laws are, but that sounds pretty iffy.

They don't just "own" the mall; they own it. Parking lots are not public property in any sense. Unless there's a local ordinance specifically saying otherwise (or they're discriminating based on race, religion, gender, etc), they aren't required to let you park there at all if they don't want you to. That's what property rights mean under US law. We've had two mall owners around here tell the public transit authority to keep their riff-raff-carrying buses (not in those exact words) farther away from the mall doors, and it took intervention from city officials to get them permission to put their bus stops a more reasonable walking distance from those doors.

RoadRambler wrote:Are there any suitable lightposts or similar you could lock to, or, as was suggested , a back or dumpster area you could propose? Anyways something that mightbe a reasonable if not perfect compromise to get the negotiations out of trading ultimatums mode. You could say you appreciated the time he gave you to come up with a solution and would this nice pole here in row 2 or 3 or 4 or whatever in sightline of your workplace be okay to chain it to, along your new shrieking alarm? Also be sure he knows about the random folks who messed with it before and how this was far and away the best solution you and the previous mgt had found --
after youve shown how reasonable you are by suggesting alternatives yourself.

I was actually very calm and receiving to the new policy when he came in to let me know about it, and I did tell him about all of the crap that has happened to my scooter while being parked at the mall, as well as the deal that I made with the previous management. He didn't care and quickly turned to giving me a nasty attitude. I remained friendly, even thanked him for stopping in to let me know, because I have no idea what happened to the memo they dropped off, I'm sure my boss's wife put it somewhere and forgot about it. But he just got more unglued about the whole thing, like I'm hurting the mall's business because I'm taking up 1/3 of a parking space that can easily be shared with other customers on motorcycles. I work at the mall, why would I want to hurt it's business? That's where my spending money comes from, duh. Anyway, I didn't say anything about the development replacing my scooter until he was walking out and his response was "yeah whatever," so I told him to have a good day and enjoy the beautiful weather. He's barely ever there, and all of the other corporate people at the mall love me anyway (I fix all of their grammatically incorrect facebook posts for them so they don't look like idiots), so I really don't care about this one particular guy. Also, he wasn't giving me time to figure something out until the beginning of April, that's the date on the memo (I asked one of the guys next door if they got one, and read it after the VP left) everyone has to park elsewhere by April first, or else.

Unfortunately the only light posts we have are 30 feet tall and have a 4x4ft concrete block at the bottom of them, I tried to chain it up once to no avail, there wasn't anything sticking out enough for me to wrap the cable around or weave into. The only signs we have are "handicap parking only" signs... which I (1)would never want to put my scoot anywhere near, and (2)would probably get in some sort of trouble if I did anyway. I would chain it to one of the trees on one of the random islands of grass and gravel in the middle of the parking lot, but my cable couldn't reach unless I put my scoot on the grass itself which I'm sure is precious special mall grass, and chaining up to a tree is a no-no in NY anyway. But my problem isn't it possibly being stolen really, it's just dumb people that think it's a shelf, or a toy for anyone to hop on and play with...

I'm just annoyed. The guy was really an a-hole and there was no reason for it. I'm just going to park back by next door's owner's truck. It should be okay there, and then I know I won't be the only one keeping an eye on it, Dan loves that truck, he would beat the crap out of anyone that breathed on it wrong.

EDIT: I also suggested that lane specificity signs need to be posted at the mall's two-lane exit rather than painted on the road because that intersection is a cluster---shuck every single day, no matter how slow that day is, people just don't seem to see the signs on the road before they're on top of the intersection and there have been several serious accidents there to prove that it's super dangerous. Them putting in an Olive Garden on the corner is only going to make it worse. Speed limit signs need to be posted around the parking lot, and the "roads" around the mall. Speed bumps wouldn't hurt either, especially between the first row of spaces and the mall sidewalk, and crosswalks need to be painted on the road so that people aren't afraid for their lives while trying to dodge speeding cars to get in to Marshall's with their kids (even though NY law says that pedestrians have right of way in a parking lot, people in cars here don't care until they're the ones trying to cross the road).

1) sprain your ankle; go to doctor to document. Get HANDICAPPED PARKING PERMIT and park as close as you like in the handicapped parking place.

2) When owner complains SUE HIm for discrimination under the American Disabilities act.

3) upon settlement, after YOU have acquired the Mall , have his ars thrown off the property.

4) with all your extra money now- open a scooter shop at the mall and fill those first 4 rows with SCOOTERS.