[Eric in the Ozarks]

Oh yeah. I carry around 28 quarters in my pocket all the time...

[ClearCase_guy]

[12Gauge687]

Downtown Chicago, it averages out to $3.50 per hour. Besides the increase in rate, the meters are now filling up so fast with quarters that they stop taking them and then you’re in violation.

Even my West Town neighborhood used to be $0.15 per hour and is now $0.15 for 15 minutes - that’s a fourfold increase! What a rip!

I’ll be shopping on-line or mail-order from now on (preferably from a company that doesn’t have a store in Illinois - to avoid state tax).

[ignorancerunsrampant]

They installed 100s of meters in the months leading up to this privatization. There wer blocks outside of downtown that never had meters. Overnight meters were there. I presume one day I will come home and find one in front of my house

[Carley]

Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper was elected on the issue of parkng meter charges.

[pnh102]

These fee hikes are either driving more people out of the city, or driving them into parking decks instead. But fear not, the city parking tax will probably be increased to make up for the lost revenue.

[bgill]

No parking meters is another reason to live in the South.

[relictele]

The whole purpose of parking meters was as an urban planning tool, used to generate turnover so businesses could see a steady stream of customers who park for a short time, shop and leave, opening spaces for more shoppers.

This has always been a lie and the urban planning TOOLS continue to believe it.

[Oldpuppymax]

Why exactly does the author believe she is entitled to information about the income of the PRIVATE firm which now has the parking meter concession? Is there something in the contract this outfit signed with the city which allows newspapers to get a financial statement?

[seatrout]

There's more, check this out: "Enter a guy who calls himself 'Mike The Parking Ticket Geek.' He contacted us via Twitter and showed us his website, theexpiredmeter.com, which he used to give people advice on how to beat parking tickets. The site has become a lightning rod for peoples' complaints about the new rates and operators. Mike says the people who are writing to him have a sense of "anger, frustration, rage in some cases." To the point where some, it appears, are vandalizing the meters. Pictures on Mike's website show meters deliberately smashed, taken apart, spray-painted, or deliberately jammed. 'People suggest taking a quarter, putting some super glue on it, and putting it in the coin slot,' Mike said. That jams the meter and everyone parks for free. Or not at all. "