How would I rate the experience of paying to park on Park Avenue? Hmm ...

The text message was straightforward enough:

“How likely are you to recommend Premium Parking? Please reply with a number from ‘0’ (not likely) to ‘10’ (very likely).”

I was being asked because I had parked in a parking lot on Park Avenue. You know which one. It’s the lot that used to be free until June 2023, when it wasn’t.

The lot, which is not far from the intersection of Berkeley Street and Park Avenue, the epicenter of cool in Rochester, has been in the news because an adjacent business, a tanning salon, has sued the lot’s owner.

The salon owners argue that some customers have stopped coming now it costs them to park in the lot.

I won’t take sides — this isn’t that kind of column — but I will say I liked the lot better when it was free.

Can you blame me? Despite the avenue’s name, it’s hard to find a place to park on Park, or anywhere near Park. That’s the price of popularity.

So the free lot was a savior in the old days. You could stash your car at no cost and go off to breakfast at Jine’s. Heaven.

No more, and the other night I had my first experience with the QR-coded way of paying for parking in the once-free lot.

It did not go smoothly, what with entering a credit card number and getting things wrong, etc. etc. It’s not easy being me.

Still, I thought that once I had finished the transaction, I would have no further contact with the lot, or at least, the lot’s bot.

Then, the satisfaction survey arrived. I was surprised that someone, or some bot, would ask me to weigh in on the joys of having to pay for something I once got for free.

However, we’re always being asked to evaluate our experiences these days.

Going to the doctors doesn’t end with the office visit. No, an internet survey tracks us down and we’re guided to grade every part of the visit from our interactions with the kiosk upon arrival to scheduling a follow-up appointment before we leave.

I always give every part of the process high marks because a) I like my doctors and their crews and b) I don’t want to get on their bad side. No one wants a surgeon with a grudge.

No one would want a parking lot with a grudge, as well. I imagine I’ll cave and give the Park Avenue lot a 10. (But, just between you and me, wasn’t it nice when it was free?)

Remarkable Rochesterians

In a wonderful 1997 story in the Washington Post, Phil McCombs wrote about Matthew Caulfield’s post-retirement return to Rochester to fulfill his dream to operate the carousel at Seabreeze Amusement Park in Irondequoit.

Then 63 years old, Caulfield was an internationally known expert on Wurlitzer carousel organs and the perforated paper rolls that guide their music.

He landed the Seabreeze job running the carousel at Seabreeze — the one that replaced an earlier carousel that had been destroyed by fire. The organ had been replaced as well, built to the exact model of the original Wurlitzer 165 style, and Caulfield was soon in heaven repairing, and adding, music rolls.

Caulfield quickly became a valued and beloved member of the team that makes Seabreeze so special. And it’s safe to say that millions of people have heard the music that he loved and preserved. (On Spotify, check out Carousel Breezes, Vol. 1 and 2)

Matthew Caulfield died last month at age 90. As suggested by Craig Smith, let’s add his name to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at https://data.democratandchronicle.com/remarkable-rochesterians/

Matthew Caulfield (1933-2024): Renowned for the creation and reclamation of the perforated rolls that guide the automated organs that accompany merry-go-round rides, he became the operator of the carousel at Seabreeze Amusement Park and its Wurlitzer 165 style organ in 1997 after a successful career as a rare-book cataloguer at the Library of Congress. Having grown up in Rochester, where he worked at Seabreeze as a teenager, he graduated from the University of Rochester and the University of Chicago with a master’s degree in classical languages and literature. The author of over 1,000 postings on the Mechanical Music Digest website, he also served as Seabreeze’s unofficial archivist, organizing documents and photos.

From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott, writes Remarkable Rochester, who we were, who we are. He can be reached at jmemmott@gannett.com or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester NY Park Avenue parking lot wants you to rate the experience