Ypsilanti X Prize?
Posted by ppna on April 3, 2009
I’ll admit that I’m the guy that bothers the city with concerns like my most recent one, “Please set the clock in Depot Town.’ I posted this request on the city action site and was very pleased with my response time. The, answer, however, fits in the category of ‘Only In Ypsilanti.’
In response to your concern – I checked with Sandee French, from the DDA Depot Town who informed me the problem is that when the clock was built, it was computerized to automatically change in the spring and fall, however; the law was changed to move the time ahead a few weeks earlier and because of this, the clock now needs to be reset by the clock manufacturer. It should change by next week since it will go forward at the date it was originally scheduled to change. According to Sandee, it could be expensive to have this changed. She is currently in Florida but will be home next week and will give me the name of the manufacturer and I will contact them to see what the cost would be to have it re-computerized. Anyhow, I will follow up on this next week and hope to have more information then.
Thanks for your comments!
Why did we buy a clock that can’t be set manually? If it is computer controlled shouldn’t there be a panel to override the auto-set feature? I realize foreseeing that the feds would change the dates of Daylight savings time would have been hard to do but what about a power outage?
If this company wants a lot of money to update the clock I suggest we offer an Ypsilanti X Prize to hack the clocks computer. I would think the first to successfully hack the clock and set it correctly should win 5bucks. There has to be plenty of folks looking to win Ypsilanti’s first X Prize and all the fame that would go along with it. If this works out we could hold X Prizes for other things as well.
Miles St. Doug said
This sounds great. Count me in. How do I get access to the clock?
Sally Lunn said
Thanks for bringing up the subject of the Depot Town Clock having the wrong time. My husband and I were one of the folks that bought a brick with our name on it for $50 to raise $$$ for this clock. And if resetting it is so expensive I vote that the person who took our $$$ and bought this type of clock be the one who needs to pay to have it fixed.