Suggested Improvements - NYC Fire Hydrants

I live in New York City where almost all parking is street parking and it's not easy to come by. Almost no one has driveways and it's not uncommon to spend 20 minutes looking for a parking spot, even in front of your own house. On occasion I have spent the better part of an hour trying to find one. Taking all of this into consideration, it is very exciting when you find a spot. There is nothing worse than thinking you have found a spot only to discover a fire hydrant.

Why don't they add a flag or post to fire hydrants so that you can see where they are? Just something that is high enough to be viewed over cars as you are driving down the street. This would let drivers know where the hydrants are so they don't get excited about potential parking spots.

I realize that my parking pet peeves are not a good enough reason for the city to spend more money on fire hydrants but a signed hydrant would also be of use to the fire department by making it easier for them to locate fire hydrants as they drive down the street. Plus, you could add value by using the sign to indicate how close you can park to the hydrant and what the fine would be if you do (i.e. No parking for 15 feet in either direction - $115 fine).

Are there any negatives to adding a tall flag or sign to fire hydrants? There would be an added cost but I'm pretty sure that my parking tickets alone would be enough to finance the improvements. What about problems with adding height to the low hydrants? There are already plenty of signs and poles on the street so one more shouldn't make a lot of difference.

NYC, I suggest you add tall signs or markers to your fire hydrants to increase their visibility to motorist and firefighters.

The New Editorials Section of One Floor Up

Being the design junkie that I am, I'm constantly trying to inflict my opinions about products and ideas on others. I've been know to utter the phrase "I'm going to write them a letter about that" on a pretty regular basis and quite frankly, I currently owe the world about 200 letters. I've decided to refocus that letter writing energy on this editorial section of One Floor Up and share some of those thoughts with you instead. Hopefully you will find some of them interesting... or at least entertaining.

The categories for these editorials are based on a few key phrases that tend to say quite a lot (apparently). A few examples are:

1. What took them so long?
(As in, this is such a good idea what took someone so long to actually produce it?)

2. Who ever invented..., is my hero.
(Dishing out props to the inventors of things that I wouldn't want to live without)

3. Suggested improvements.
(This product is cool, but a great improvement would be...)

4. Why doesn't someone...?
(Great ideas that someone should hurry up and develop)

5. Why do we put up with...?
(Products and experiences that are not very good but we have just gotten used to)

6. Products that make me happy.
(Products that have really great user experiences or features)

7. Things that are better in other countries.
(Based on my limited knowledge of the world, things that other countries do better that we could learn from)