It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. I have chosen a very un fun topic today just for fun. When I sell real estate in downtown St. Paul I like to tell the new owners some things about living downtown.
I like to let them know that there is one thing that the City of St. Paul does very well and that is parking enforcementt. Our meters take quarters or dollar coins only and each quarter lasts about ten seconds. It is impossible to carry enough quarters to park for an hour downtown. They wouldn't all fit in a pocket or purse. It is hard to put them in the meter fast enough. With each quarter lasting only a few seconds the time that the first quarter bought is used up before the last quarter goes in.
The parking enforcement is so efficient that if I stop at a meter and reach down to find some quarters in my car or purse by the time I look back up there is already a ticket on my windshield and the person who put it there is long gone.
Yesterday when I took the pictures of the parking meters for this post I stopped at a meter, left the engine running, and put a quarter in the meter. Sure enough there was a young man two cars down putting a ticket on a windshield.
If you park downtown and your meter runs out you will get a ticket without fail. I consider them a normal business expense. They are unavoidable. I once asked if I could deduct the tickets from my taxes as they are a normal business expense and the answer was no. The meters do not give receipts so I can deduct all of those rolls of quarters I go through either.
Yesterday I was informed that the little slot in the back of the meter is for a card. The card can some how be purchased through the city. It can be used to pay for parking instead of trying to cart around 10 or 12 pounds of quarters for each hour of parking. There is no information about it on the city web site. T
he program is kept secret because the city makes so much money off people like me who rarely have a couple of rolls of quarters on them that they don't want anyone to know about it.
When there are events downtown the city goes one step further. They put hoods on the meters that are any where near the event. I think that a ticket for parking at a hooded meter is a ginormous amount of money and is probably what they use to pay the mayors salary.
I have gotten parking tickets for as much as $100. I was once downtown with a friend. We put quarters in the meter, went to eat and got back to the car seconds after the meter expired. As we walked down the street we could see the ticket appearing on the windshield but the person who put it there apparently moved so fast that he or she could not be seen. It looked like the ticket just appeared out of no where.
I have no idea how they do that. They are almost magical.
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Teresa, this is just about the funniest story about downtown parking I’ve ever read.
It illustrates very well how we slowly move to a society where people exist to serve the government instead of the other way around.
There are only two cures for this: Either the public must be informed and active on many issues, or we need small government.
One trick the government uses is to keep throwing so many laws and regulations at the people that they are too busy ensuring they are complying with the law to have any time to effect change.
And the laws keep coming.
The parking cards are actually really great. We got a hold of one when we were buying our place, but then lent in out to a pet sitter and never got it back. You just put it in the slot, the amount increases the longer it’s in there, and you remove it when have what you want on the meter. We haven’t been able to figure out how to get another…
Jessica – you are way ahead of me. I didn’t even know there was such a card and would love to have one. I may go down to city hall later today and see what I can find out. If I get any information I will publish it even though I know it may cause the city to lose a lot of revenue.
PB – I really do love St. Paul but everything is illegal here and if it isn’t a city ordinance it is a state law. I do get tired of it.
Charleston – I do more than my fair share to support the city with my tickets. I am slow to pay so I often get a second fine.
Here is a link to how to get the Minneapolis parking cards. Money can also be added to be used at Saint Paul meters.
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/parking/parking-card.asp
Thanks Jessica I am going to try the city of St. Paul too
In downtown, parking cards can be purchased or refilled in the entrance of the City Hall Annex. Just remember, the Minneapolis money doesn’t work in St Paul meters. If you have a Minneapolis card, you’ll need to refill it at a St Paul card station.
Haha. I don’t know if this would be a good thing to tell people. It might deter them from wanting to live in St. Paul
I always thought this was a problem only in California. That was the biggest reason why I left! These things are really great revenue generators.
Ah ha! I found a link to information from the City!!
http://www.smart-trips.org/debit_cards.php
up here we pay by cell phone charged to you credit card. easy peazy. Park hit your favorite meter parking number and input the meter number and length of time needed. Always got a record and the tax man loves yah for keeping them. Course if you don’t have a cell phone…..