Don’t feed the meters

The round, blue stickers started showing up last week on the city’s 513 parking meters, signifying the July 23 start of a yearlong moratorium on parking meters.

The small stickers go over the part of the meter that shows how much time remains. They say: “Parking meter free, please do not deposit currency, overnight restrictions remain in effect.”

The break from parking meters comes as a result of a one-year study that analyzed the meters, if they’re needed, and what they’d need to remain functional into the future. The analysis brought to light that nobody knows what would happen without them, because they’ve been in constant use since being installed in 1970.

Management Analyst Paul Fagin and Chief Roger Leque led the study and concluded that to make a good recommendation regarding the meters, they need to know what happens when they’re not being used.

The City Council approved a parking-meter moratorium at its July 10 meeting, in effect from July 23, 2012 to July 22, 2013. During that time, the city will analyze the metered areas and document what happens.

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