Sheldon wrote:

> A few towns near here that have metered parking in municipal parking
> lots now have meters where you can also swipe a credit/debit card.

I hate the new machines where you put put money into a central meter and
get a ticket to stick on in the front window of your car. If you find
that you are going to be longer than expected you have to go back and
put in enough money to validate it until that new time, and you get no
credit for the time you have left on the old one. In one city near year,
there are a number of municipal lots scattered around town. They all
charge the same rates, but they are valid only for the lot where you got
it. There is no reason I can think of that, should you have business
elsewhere, and time remaining on your ticket, that you should not be
able to use it in another municipal lot.


I once caught a parking enforcement guy about to stick a parking ticket
on my car. There was still two minutes left on the meter. That prick
was going to give me a ticket before the meter ran out. I confronted
him about it and he whined that it was almost out. There is a difference
between being expired and almost expired.

It ****ed me off that various levels of government are expected to
provide funding to the city to try to attract people downtown when the
city is aggressively enforcing meter violations. That just ****es people
off and they end up going to the malls instead. If you want to attract
people to downtown areas to attract business you can't turn around and
penalize them over piddly amounts for parking. One of the smaller local
cities smartened up and revitalized downtown by tearing out the parking
meters.


As for handicapped parking, it should only be valid for those drivers
who have a mobility problem. If there is an able bodied person they
should drop the disabled person off at the door and then park out in the
lot with everyone else. Use of a disabled parking permit by someone
other than the named permit holder should result in confiscation of the
permit.