Unscrupulous drivers go to lengths to jam parking meters
By Tony Bartelme
The Post and Courier
Mike McCann, parking meter technician for the city of Charleston, resets a jammed parking meter on Calhoun Street. The meter and the one next to it had been jammed by someone who wanted to park for free.
The Post and Courier
Paper and candy wrappers are among the items people use to jam parking meters in Charleston.
The Post and Courier
Mike McCann, parking meter technician for the city of Charleston, removes a paper clip from a jammed parking meter.
The Post and Courier
Across from the College of Charleston library, Mike McCann opens the gray housing of a parking meter and sticks a small screwdriver into a slot.
"Bingo," he says, fishing out a gum wrapper.
McCann has been fixing the city's meters for 18 years. He's pulled out razor blades, crushed beer bottle caps, paper clips, rubber bands, "just about anything you can imagine."
One time, before the city swapped its mechanical meters with electric ones, someone strapped a yellow bra around a lever to keep the meter's flag up.
"The worst is the bubble gum," he says after fixing five of the eight meters on that block. "You don't know who's chewed it."
McCann is one half of the city's meter repair unit. Every year, he and Bryan Smith fix about 13,000 meters.
Some fail because their batteries die, or they have some other legitimate malfunction.
But about 4,000 last year were jammed by people trying to cheat the city out of a few quarters, so they could park in spaces longer than the allotted time, or for some other reasons that still leave McCann scratching his head.
One time someone drilled holes into a few meters. "That was completely senseless; it just cost taxpayers more money," McCann said. "Maybe they were mad."
Does this vandalism make him mad?
"Not anymore. It's one of those things you get used to," he said, joking that the cheaters give him "job security."
The College of Charleston is meter-beater central.
Sometimes McCann and his partner will fix a row of meters, "and on my way back, they'll all be jammed again." He's caught people in the act. "There's not much I can do about it," he said. His bosses "tell me just to fix the meters."
Damaging a meter is a crime, said Hernan Pena, city traffic and transportation director, though he couldn't recall a time when the city prosecuted anyone for jamming a meter.
"The perception is that if you put a little paperclip in and go about your business, you're doing nothing wrong," he said "But our message is that it is wrong." Meter cheaters damage city property, cost the city parking revenue and hog parking spaces that could go to law-abiding motorists who need them.
And there are more subtle effects, Pena said. When people drive up to a broken meter, "a lot are afraid they'll get a ticket. It puts them in an awkward and uncomfortable position," Pena said. "They're willing to put the money, but they don't know what to do."
Pena and McCann aren't sure why, but city meter jamming spiked in 2005 when people stuffed foreign objects into 6,300 meters. The number dropped to 5,434 in 2006, and then 3,921 last year. Pena said the city's more aggressive efforts to get meters back on line might be discouraging some cheaters.
In the past few years, the city put stickers on the tops of meters, telling people who to call about meter malfunctions. Like a political candidate who mentions his Web site, Pena sprinkles his conversations with the malfunction phone number, 724-7375.
He said the average time a meter stays down after it has been reported is 25 hours.
"Our thinking is that people used to think they could jam the meter, and that they wouldn't come back for a few days. They're thinking 'This is working for me.' But now we have a 25-hour turnaround, so it's harder to beat the system."
People still are trying new ways to mess up the meters, McCann said. They're trying new foreign objects. They've sprayed fluids into them, which usually makes a mess but doesn't affect the meters. "We're constantly adjusting to their tactics."
Reach Tony Bartelme at tbartelme@postandcourier.com or 937-5554.
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Charles_Town (anonymous) says...
Thomas... it wold be funny if a local news station did a "DateLine" type story, using video as you suggested.
May 19, 2008 at 7:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
512c (anonymous) says...
Why do we need meters and tickets again?
In most European cities they don't have them. Tickets or Meters.. If someone is blocking your drive, they get towed.
But, then again, they aren't forced to drive everywhere.
May 19, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jca (anonymous) says...
same people probably have illegal handicapped placards and park in the fire lane at walmart
May 19, 2008 at 8:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
amylrod (anonymous) says...
It wouldn't surprise me to see surveillance cameras put up to act as Big Brother. Look at London-they are everywhere.
May 19, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Larz13 (anonymous) says...
More positive news coming from the CoC (sarcasm). Good thing that I have the livability court on speed dial.
Savannah has a system where you go to a central machine and insert coins (or dollars or credit cards) and "buy time". It prints a ticket that you put on your dashboard. No broken meters, or for that matter, no meters at all. It may cost Mr. McCann his job, but I am sure that the central machines still need maintenance. This could help in this situation.
May 19, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
charlestonnative1963 (anonymous) says...
I hate them, but the Isle of Palms has a much better system... Better yet, Sullivan's Island has THE BEST- none at all.I usually just don't drive downtown anymore. The parking situation has caused me to stay in Mt. Pleasant for all my entertaining (eating out, plays, etc). I used to enjoy going downtown just to walk or eat. There is just no where to park in Disney World anymore!
May 19, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
number1volsfan1 (anonymous) says...
Don't you mean "Riley World"?
May 19, 2008 at 9:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Michael_S_Smith_II (anonymous) says...
Dear City Council Members,
How much revenue is annually generated by Charleston's parking meters?
How much does it cost to employ the "meter maids" who monitor compliance with the city's parking laws, including items like: tickets and the ink used to produce them (not to mention the devices now used to issue them), uniforms, insurance, pensions and other benefits provided to those city employees? What are the annual labor and equipment expenses associated with maintaining the city's meters? How much does the city spend each year on liability insurance to cover its [you know what] if a meter maid or maintenance worker is injured or worse while on the job? How much does the city pay each year to insure the actual meters?
Do the expenses associated with this program exceed the revenue generated by it, excluding the revenues generated by fines issued each year for noncompliance?
Sincerely,
Michael S. Smith II
P.O. Box 35
Charleston, S.C. 29402
May 19, 2008 at 9:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
skip7878 (anonymous) says...
I would guess when you add in all the fines....maybe it is cost effective...just another way to soak us.
May 19, 2008 at 9:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JC (anonymous) says...
If you didn't have parking meters, employees of the businesses would take all the parking, all the time. Then, there would be NO convenient, short term parking. You would have to go to a parking garage a couple of blocks away and spend much more $$$.
May 19, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GG (anonymous) says...
When my cousin attended C of C, he got bunches of parking tickets - the majority he avoided paying somehow.
BUT when he finished law school at USC and passed his bar exam, he couldn't practice until he cleared all his tickets and the fines, which amounted to over $4,000.
So I would guess that the tickets and their subsequent fines can amount to a great deal of revenue ultimately.
May 19, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AntiMeterMaid (anonymous) says...
Traffic & Transportation's dirty little secret: parking meters are NON REVENUE PRODUCING, i.e. the cost to install & maintain them, etc. produces NO profit. They are only to encourage turnover in the spaces. In the Historic District, they are an anachronism, as well as unnecessary and ugly.
ALTERNATIVE: Free parking up to 1 or 2 hours such as in the residential districts--much more friendly, and ticket revenue can still be collected from overtime parking. A 'meter' ticket is only $8 but residential overtime is $25. Jobs don't have to be lost, just switch meter-repairers to 'enforcement' agents. Mr. Pena, are you reading this?
May 19, 2008 at 12:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
NativeSC (anonymous) says...
This isn't the solution, but has anyone been to one of the garages downtown. They don't accept checks(which I totally understand) or credit cards(which is a joke, what year is this?). Only cash and nothing larger than a $20. Why not make it as convenient as possible to use the garages. This would include having the ladies working in the booths cut their freaking finger nails from 3 inches long so they can handle the money without looking like animals without opposable thumbs trying to make change and hanging up their f%$*^#g cell phones while they are working. What a great idea. Make it more convenient to use the garages and maybe people wouldn't do everything short of shooting someone to park on the street.
May 19, 2008 at 8:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rjcontego (anonymous) says...
most cities overseas dont have ugly parking meters anymore...the "Pay and Display Ticket Machines" are so much better and are proven worldwide (and on the IOP i might add)...how do we get rid of these ugly parking meters downtown???
May 20, 2008 at 12:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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