Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
D.C. Police Seek Suspect in Series of Bank Robberies
Suspect in 9-Year-Old's Murder Found Dead in D.C. Jail
Photo of the Day: November 25, 2009
Ballou HS Rocks the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Photo by volcanojw
The Examiner reports that the District's aging parking meters appear to be in desperate need of replacement. The city has received 105,000 complaints about broken parking meters so far in 2008, averaging out to approximately seven complaints for each of the 16,500 meters that exist in the city. Reporter Michael Neibauer crunches the numbers:
Parking meter-related grievances have soared steadily in recent years from 67,813 in 2006 to 94,049 in 2007 to the nearly 105,000 so far in 2008.So, what gives? The meters in the city are all at least a decade old, and they probably need to be replaced. The District does have plans to install more computerized multispace meters, which would replace the old ones, but there's no comprehensive plan to ditch all the old meters anytime soon. Maybe if Jim Graham manages to get that parking meter rate hike he's looking for, we could use that money to replace all the old meters?The long-term trend is even more shocking. In 1995, the city registered only 2,665 meter complaints, meaning the annual increase since then is more than 3,800 percent.
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Whatever you do, DON'T use tin snips to clip off two sides of a penny. Not only do they register as a quarter in most parking meters, they sometimes RUIN the mechanism. Not to mention it's a felony to deface public currency.
And just a reminder: the old urine-in-a-squirtbottle trick does NOT break electronic parking meters, but it will cause Coke machines to dispense free beverages. The problem becomes one of what to do with urine-soaked Coke cans. A puzzlement.
Hints from Heloise:
When you want to get a free parking spot.
Go to a dollar store or gas station. Purchase an air freshner and a permanent black magic marker.
Use the black magic marker and write 'HANDICAP' on both sides of the air freshner. Let it dry. Hang it on your rear-view window. Now, you can park in the handicap spot. Your welcome.
The problem IS the multispace meters. None of the ones on K St. will accept any of my credit or debit cards. They just say "invalid card."
Canadian Quarters
The increase from 1995 to 2007 is about a 3800% increase. That's not even close to the same thing as an "annual increase" of 3800%. It's not clear whether that was Examiner's mistake copied, but it's correct on their site now. Either way, lousy reporting by DCist.
More to the point, an epidemic of broken meters doesn't mean DC should abandon stick meters. Furthermore, the increase in complaints may just be the result of an improved hotline. I don't know the complete history of parking meters in DC, but I know there have been improvements over the past 10 years in the experience of reporting broken meters.
I will agree with Examiner and DCist that DC (DDOT and DPW) aren't taking adequate care of their parking meters. To momentarily be a huge cynic, this isn't that different than any other DC government problem in that it could be greatly improved through better management.
seriously. i reported back in the spring of a downed meter near my work, which was responded to two months later by the complete removal of the meter, providing two free parking spaces on a street of metered spots.
which are usually occupied by metro employees, as the street is adjacent to a bus barn.
what gives? those guys park for free anyway, just by displaying their day-glow vests in the back.