The management of limited parking spaces is a major issue for city governments, both for revenue generation and traffic management. The ubiquitous parking meter, with its voracious appetite for loose change, is a standby of our urban landscapes, and those who are responsible for their installation and management have managed to find ways to make them even more obnoxious (meters in Arlington, Virginia, are decorated with snarky warnings) ...
And without parking meters, how could the Beatles have sung of their love for "Lovely Rita, Meter Maid"?But parking meters as we know them may be going away. The old standby that eats the change you never have enough of ...
The high-tech models that accept your credit or debit cards ...
And the "parking automats" that take your money and print a receipt to place on your dash ...
may all go away, according to this article from Slate.com: Time Expired: The End of the Parking Meter. As the article says, "...the time has finally come for a sweeping rethink of the parking meter—in part because of changes in technology, and in part because of an emerging change in the way we think about parking in cities."What's to rethink? City governments need money, people need places to park, and the humble (or high-tech) parking meter works for both. You may love them or hate them, but I don't think parking meters are going away.
Unfortunately.
Have a good day. Good luck with finding that parking space. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Have you heard of the meter maids in Surfers Paradise? http://www.metermaids.com/
ReplyDeleteDon't have much to say about the meters. However, I enjoyed your parking lot post. I commend you for being such a gentleman and moving. Although I would have handled it much differently. But then, I would probably be locked up. But kudos to you for handling it all so well.
ReplyDeleteParking is ALWAYS an issue around here where public transportation is not so great.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Phila. where we never drove locally as we had trolleys, buses, and trains to take us everywhere.
I was summoned for jury duty at the St. Louis County Courthouse on Monday. Although parking was free when they validated your ticket, the parking garage was 4 blocks away. That was alright up to the point where I had to wait on the sidewalk while all th e lawyers, judges, county workers, etc, rushed into the parking garage underneath the couthouse.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen meters that take credit cards yet.
ReplyDeleteMeant to ask if you had heard about the incident in Baltimore over the weekend involving a parking space. Seems an irate person picked up a piece of concrete and hit an off-duty detective in the head and killed him. All over a parking space...
ReplyDeleteAmanda - I hope Mike doesn't check out that link...an old guy like him may not be able to take it.
ReplyDeleteRaquel - I'm not that much of a saint. She's lucky she couldn't hear what I was actually thinking...
Kathy - one of the reasons I loved living in Germany was the terrific pubic transportation. It was expensive, but always reliable and on time.
Bandit - same thing here in Fairfax County. Must be a national law or something.
Mike - you don't get out much, do you?
Kathy - one comment per customer, ha, ha. Yes, I saw that report. People are nuts. That's why I figure it's never worth it to contest a parking place...you never know who's packing heat and left his/her brain at home.
I forgot to go look at Amanda's link. I now have it bookmarked.
ReplyDelete