Parking meters are meant for short term parking and most of them have time limits, however, since the hourly rate is often lower than the surface lots or parking ramps, many people break the law by simply plugging them every so often. My understanding is that the time limits are rarely enforced, in fact a few years ago I heard that less than five citations per year were issued in Minneapolis for this offense. If the objective is to try and keep the meters for the short term parkers, then instead of raising the rates and/or extending the times, I think it would be a good idea if there was better enforcement of the time limits. Either that or some sort of technological advance in parking meters that wouldn't allow adding time to a meter until another vehicle occupied the spot. Paul Barber Loring Park
