Well, you must admit, they do take up valuable parking spaces, that for all we know generate valuable meter income to be spent for the benefit of the society.
Parking meters make the cities more money with parking tickets than they do the actual meter money.
My city took blocks that had been zoned NO STREET PARKING and added meters specifically because they’d get more violations (and more tickets) with “some” parking permitted.
Right, they need the money to pay for welfare for the 'youts' who did the torching.