Maybe Haystack founder and CEO Eric Meyer wants to gain some favor with the City of Boston. Maybe he wants to pat the backs of Bostonians citywide. Maybe he’s just a generous guy. Either way, Meyer will be giving away a brand new FIAT 500 to one lucky Haystack user.
As part of a lavish promotion for the new and controversial parking app Haystack, Meyer and his company will be giving away the little Italian-made car at 1 p.m. at the Liberty Hotel on Thursday.
The Liberty Hotel was also the venue for Haystack’s Boston launch, at which Meyer introduced the app to the city after Mayor Marty Walsh and his administration made it abundantly clear that Haystack, as it continues to sell availability information of public parking spaces, is not welcome in The Hub.
In hopes of eliciting more downloads, of which Meyer told me he’s already recorded “thousands,” Meyer promised to giveaway the Fiat to any of the aptly called Haystackers who now boast the app on their mobile device. That’s all there is to it; if you’ve downloaded the app since Haystack’s July 17 launch, you were in the running.
But if you’re thinking about downloading the app right now in hopes of cruising around Boston in a sleek, new whip, sorry. The winner was chosen on Tuesday and will be announced formally at Thursday’s event.
How ironic would it be if Mayor Walsh, who vowed to “take appropriate measures to prohibit any such app” had downloaded Haystack in order to better understand and keep tabs on it, was chosen at random as the winner of the Fiat?
Though Haystack hasn’t been as widely accepted as other parking apps, some have posited that merely having a discussion about alternative parking solutions is a move in the right direction. Parking in Boston can be a hellish affair, part of the reason why former Boston City Councilors Mike Ross and Tom Keane, both columnists for the Boston Globe, have thrown their support behind the app while questioning Mayor Walsh’s self-professed dedication to innovation and next-generation technologies.
What do you think about Haystack? Do you believe it’ll alleviate the problem, or do you agree with Mayor Walsh that it’s simply a company that profits of the sale of public space? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Image via yours truly
