Keene, N.H., Meter Readers Are Terrified of Populace, Demand 'Safety Zone'

The Libertarian Free Keene group in New Hampshire has been "tormenting" the city (and the city's bottom line) by bouncing around town with pockets full of loose change, feeding meters in order to keep people from getting parking tickets and sometimes videotaping officers. This is so frightening to the city that it's turning to the courts to try to get a restraining order to keep these people away. Via the New Hampshire Union Leader:

Members of the group place cards under windshield wipers that read, "Your meter expired; however, we saved you from the king's tariffs, Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Please consider paying it forward," and includes an address where donations can be sent.

The group says the suit was filed because the city is losing revenue from parking tickets. The city says the activists are harassing its employees.

In the case filed May 2, the city asks the court to prohibit residents Kate Ager, Ian Bernard aka Ian Freeman, James Cleaveland, Graham Colson, Garrett Ean and Peter Eyre from coming within 50 feet of the city's three parking enforcement officers "during the performance of their employment duties for the city."

According to the suit, the residents "regularly, repeatedly and intentionally taunted, interfered with, harassed, and intimidated" the officers starting last December, "surrounding, touching or nearly touching, and otherwise taunting and harassing" the officers.

The city (whose population is less than 25,000) worries the officers will be so demoralized about not being able to fine people that they'll quit and they might have difficulty filling the positions. The horrors.

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Comments

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

I thought it was already illegal (at least in some jurisdictions, of course, so I'm just sort of surprised it's not here) to feed a parking meter other than your own.

Clearly Keene just needs to start installing the much more annoying type of traffic meter, where you have to display a ticket on your dash showing the time stamp. This gains them even more revenues because you can never use the remaining time on the previous parker's space. Plus, it further inconveniences the peasants by not accounting for the time it takes them to walk from their car to the meter and back, every single time they park. For all the bitching about Chicago's corrupt parking deal, no one seems to care about that part. Except me, of course.

[$park?]

I used to work for a guy that had more money than he knew what to do with. He wanted to do something like this in Northampton. I don't know if he ever got it running, but I don't remember there being any legal reasons why he couldn't.

[johnnychris04]

Im making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do, ... http://www.daz7.com

[Hugh Akston]

I agree with johnnychris. If nicole would only do a little research she could be making $7,000 a month too, and maybe then she would quit bitching about the cost of parking in Chicago.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

You don't even listen to me anymore, Hugh. I don't care about the financial cost. It's the time! DO YOU KNOW WHAT MY TIME IS WORTH, HUGH? The Kochs could pay me millions for the comments I could be making instead of walking back and forth to my car.

[Hugh Akston]

Well if you were in the upper tier of Kochsidized commenters like I am, you could hire a crippled street orphan to walk back and forth to your car or whatever you're complaining about.

There is no problem that can't be solved with money.

[jesse.in.mb]

Why are you in a car when you could be carried in a wifi-enabled palanquin? You can shill for the Kochtopus and go where you need to in style.

[Old Man With Candy]

Who the fuck parks in Chicago? You park in Lake County and take the train.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Well if I wanted to take the train I'd leave the car parked at home. In Chicago.

[Some call me Tim?]

I think the reason they don't install those is because of the change over cost being pretty high.

It's similar to why Philly still uses subway tokens even though they'd make more money off of metrocards. Changing this system requires a big influx of capital.

I'm guessing that Keene is pretty short on cash right now.

[SugarFree]

I'm guessing that Keene is pretty short on cash right now.

Might have something to do with the bloated meter maid payroll.

[Hugh Akston]

So you think hiring skinny meter maids would be cheaper?

[Jordan]

I thought meter maids were required to be fat, surly black women.

[$park?]

Only black women can be maids?

RACIST!

[DontShootMe]

find me a non-white person in Keene, NH.

[Mensan]

find me a non-white person in Keene, NH.

[LTC(ret) John]

+1 Pamprin

[BakedPenguin]

...the much more annoying type of traffic meter, where you have to display a ticket on your dash showing the time stamp. This gains them even more revenues because you can never use the remaining time on the previous parker's space.

This is where facility with Photoshop can have nice benefits. A few years ago, I worked at a university with similar parking meters. I went an entire semester without paying parking fees.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

As attractive as that sounds, I think the research costs would be too high here. It would be hard--even impossible, depending--for me to know which zone I was going to end up in and what the rate was for that day/time, etc., on top of the timestamp and all.

[jesse.in.mb]

A friend of mine did that at USC, they figured out what he was doing and booted his car.

There was a late night rescue that involved spare tires and driving really slowly on surface streets back to our campus (Whittier) and a convention of science nerd friends trying to decide what would be the most fun way to remove the boots before he ended up going with mechanical simplicity and renting power tools.

[SugarFree]

Angle-Grinder Man!

[Hugh Akston]

How long does a drive from USC to Whittier take on the surface streets with a boot on your wheel?

[jesse.in.mb]

I don't remember anymore, it was a tedious drive. The booted wheels were in the trunk (they were inferior boots) so we quick changed the tires to his spare and a borrowed spare and just drove the 15 or 25mph max that we could to get back.

There was celebratory booze in Wardman afterward.

[Hugh Akston]

There was celebratory booze in Wardman afterward.

You were one of those huh?

[jesse.in.mb]

Nope, the year I moved in few of the scholars wanted to live there. I was a humble history major with an RA friend who packed the dorm with people we liked.

[Drake]

In NYC, the Meter Maids take great joy in ticketing your car (it's all automated and very fast now), while you walk over to get the parking ticket.

[KDN]

I figured they would, since NYC meter maids are, hands down, the most miserable pieces of shit on the planet. What's your recourse there, though? Will the judge toss the ticket if you fight it?

My experience with the NYPD's nuisance tickets when you take them to court is the judge just rolls his eyes and tosses the lot of them for whoever's fighting them on a given day. They generally have more important things to do.

[Loki]

NYC meter maids are, hands down, the most miserable pieces of shit on the planet. What's your recourse there, though?

A turning kick to the head*?

*As long as no one's watching, natch.

[Brett L]

"Why you cut the heads off those parking meters?"

"Small town, not much to do in the evenin'. "

[EdWuncler]

If you park your car in Wicker Park on Milwaukee, the meter people are like sharks waiting for its prey. If you are even a second late, they will slap a ticket on your car.

[Tim]

Everybody needs a hobby.

[Irish]

So assholes allegedly harassed people who were just doing their job and Reason wants to defend them? If they actually were harassing people, then making them stop seems pretty reasonable.

Sorry if this sounds too Tulptastic, but if they were actually harassing the employees, I have a hard time having too much sympathy.

[SugarFree]

Considering that they steal people's cars and blackmail back them for parking fines that are a tiny fraction of the value of the property stolen, I have no sympathy.

But it would be better if they only fed the meters and left the meter maids alone. Assuming the meter maids didn't start it.

[$park?]

This is just a guess, but I suspect the meter maids are referring to being filmed as harassment. Maybe with some taunting thrown in.

[tarran]

The Free Keene group has been giving the local government fits - by loudly and obnoxiously refusing consent.

It's lovely stuff; the functionaries either shut-down and pretend they don't exist, or reach for their billy-clubs.

I'm on the fence whether they are a net detriment to the cause of liberty or not, but they certainly are disrupting an annoyingly progressive city government from smoothly and easily mulcting its residents.

[Restoras]

by loudly and obnoxiously refusing consent

So, they are behaving like the early Christians in Rome? If only we had gladiatorial events that needed fodder such as these...

[tarran]

It's an interesting question - the state depends on muted dissent for its operation. A culture of flagrant, pervasive disobedience is what is needed to create a free society. Unfortunately, the seeds of flagrant resistance can often turn people off rather than attracting them to the cause.

[Pro Libertate]

DISOBEY.

[MP]

Isn't being civil part of civil disobedience? That's one of the larger problems of Free Staters in NH. The ones that make the news come off as either assholes or lunatics.

[Restoras]

Personally, I think there is a big difference between being an asshole/lunatic and actual civil disobedience that involves the destruction of property and the necessity of state sanctioned force to restore order. But maybe that's just me.

And, I'd note that stuff that makes the news is meant to drive ratings and may have very little to actually do with reality.

[anomdebus]

No, it is the other definition of civil, related to civilian, aka citizen.

[sarcasmic]

Considering that they steal people's cars and blackmail back them for parking fines that are a tiny fraction of the value of the property stolen, I have no sympathy.

A while back in Portland ME I had parked next to a sign that said no parking between 9AM and 6pm(?), and when I got there the next morning at 8:30AM my car was gone. Little did I know, the tow trucks line up an hour before they can legally start towing, and with a police guard detail they commence grand theft auto. Cost a couple hundred dollars to get my car back.

[Restoras]

But Sarc this can't be right. Why would the King's Men do such a thing? It doesn't make any sense. You must be mistaken.

[Citizen Nothing]

...this sounds too Tulptastic...

Why yes, yes it does.

[Irish]

That was uncalled for, man! I don't go around calling you Tulpa.

There are lines, and you just crossed one.

[Citizen Nothing]

Have your second contact my second.

[geekster]

Downtown Richmond VA, at least a few years ago. They platoon up on side streets and at 4-5PM just flood the zone. The beauty part is the free market aspect of watching people who rushed out 10-15 minutes before the deadline - just in time to see their car getting lifted - performing 'best price bribe' negotiations, ransoming their cars curbside, the proceeds from which undoubtedly go right into the tow driver's pockets. 'Once I got the hooks on it, nuttin' I can do.' The driver's of course are negotiating from the standpoint that force will always be on their side, plus the great cost/hassle of ransom once they officially log the tow.

[Auric Demonocles]

I got a parking ticket last month for parking on the street near my apartment. They said I was "Too close to the intersection." I was parked literally directly next to a sign that says "Permit parking only" with arrows in both directions (I have a resident permit). Apparently I was supposed to notice the incredibly faded yellow paint on the curb and know that means "no parking" instead of the sign that says permit parking.

[Pro Libertate]

In Chicago, they towed my car and charged me for violations when they zoned an area for a film shoot without prior notice (as in I parked, they zoned, they towed). Of course, they could've posted that weeks ahead of time, but to do so would involve not getting thousands of dollars in tickets, towing, etc.

I had a professor who said (1) that's totally illegal, and (2) there is nothing at all you can do about it, welcome to Chicago.

A similar thing happened in St. Pete, where they moved my car. That was it--no fine, no payment, just moved my car. Annoying, but a little less draconian at least.

[jesse.in.mb]

I was "lucky that [my] car wasn't towed" when I parked lawfully according to posted signage, but someone had torn down the "don't park here after X" signs that were put up for a Christmas parade I had no idea was going on. I had no problem moving my car but the attitude the local cop was taking with me was unreasonably condescending especially after he verified that there wasn't a sign anywhere near where I was parking.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Doesn't 911 log the time of the call?

"Someone is stealing my car."

[geekster]

Seems like if they were actually 'harassing' they'd have been arrested by now. In pretty much any city I've lived in meter readers are cops-lite or closely cop affiliated and so can summon the po po for any real or perceived interference. And these folks are saying that they're being touched by the citizens, which would be a pretty clear cut assault charge if true.

[Irish]

Yes, but I'd like to know what actually happened instead of just talking the peoples' word for it. I also note that the restraining order only applies to coming near the meter maids. It doesn't actually preclude them from paying the fines, so long as they aren't near the worker. That seems to imply that the city actually does think they've been harassing the parking attendants.

[Some call me Tim?]

Once again, depends on how you define "harass."

I'm withholding judgement on the whole thing until I hear, at the very least, a detailed description of what went down...from both sides.

[CampingInYourPark]

"In particular, Graham Colson likes to taunt me by saying, 'Linda, guess what you're not going to do today - write tickets.' ... The taunting and harassment tends to get worse when there is a group, as they try to one-up each other at my expense."

"According to parking enforcement officer Alan E. Givetz in the suit, the 'constant harassment' has made him 'feel very stressed and anxious.'

'In addition, I have begun to suffer physical effects due to the stress, including coming home from work with a red face, feeling heart palpitations, and having dreams related to this activity.'"

[Tonio]

Sounds like "officer" Givetz chose his career unwisely. Shame, that.

[CampingInYourPark]

In addition, it seems Alan E. Givetz has a vagina.

[Unindicted Co-conspirator]

With sand in it.

[Restoras]

Sounds to me like these assholes are angling for diability.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

I wonder if the red face is embarrassment for being among the king's men. No? Probably not.

[Drake]

My face would be red every second I was wearing a meter maid outfit.

[jesse.in.mb]

Sounds to me like these assholes are angling for disability.

That's exactly what they're doing. I don't know about NH's state work comp, but there's no way Linda isn't going out on disability under a psych claim in the near future.

[Drake]

Know what makes my face turn red and my heart race? Getting fucking parking tickets.

Get real jobs.

[geekster]

Unless there's a quota/bounty/commission system for tickets, the correct response to someone making sure there's no work for you to do is "Thanks!".

[Suthenboy]

"The taunting and harassment tends to get worse when there is a group, as they try to one-up each other at my expense."

Looks like the shoe is on the other foot. Suck it.

[Citizen Nothing]

Stop resisting (our taunting)!

[goneGalt]

Go away or I shall taunt you again!

[Loki]

Sounds like they've got sand in their vaginas over some light verbal teasing to me. They should have learned how to deal with that back in 5th grade or so.

Grow up pussies.

[Restoras]

If you take the King's shilling you are an agent of the state regardless of your function. Don't like it? Get a new job.

[Tonio]

harassed people who were just doing their job

You know who else was "just doing their jobs"?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Men At Work?

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

While touching these guys, if they are indeed touching them, would be assault, Lovely Linda isn't getting my sympathy here:

In the filing, parking enforcement officer Linda Desruisseaux said, "Besides following me, crowding around me, making video recordings of my activities, and placing coins in expired meters to prevent me from writing tickets, these individuals repeatedly taunt and harass me, asking why I am stealing peoples' money and telling me to get another job ... In particular, Graham Colson likes to taunt me by saying, 'Linda, guess what you're not going to do today - write tickets.' ... The taunting and harassment tends to get worse when there is a group, as they try to one-up each other at my expense."

Man, I really wish I was doing the FSP sometimes.

[Some call me Tim?]

If this is the best they've got, then the harassment charge sounds like weak tea to me.

[Irish]

Yeah, that's a serious 'fuck you and your fucking feelings' situation. The mean kids were taunting me!

'Linda, guess what you're not going to do today - write tickets.'

How do these hooligans live with themselves?

I maintain that if they were touching them or invading their personal space, then this guys deserve everything they get in terms of restraining orders. If all they were doing is what Linda says though, that seems pretty innocuous.

[Tonio]

How big is their personal space? Oh, wait, I know! Fifty feet for the king's men, nothing for you peasants.

[califernian]

If you choose to engage in an evil occupation I have no sympathy for you when you get harassed by the people around you.

[SugarFree]

And people wonder why downtowns are dying and Wal-Mart is thriving.

[Tim]

Of course downtowns offer intangibles, like beggars, hopeless alcoholics and idle teens.

[$park?]

Are you trying to tell me that Wal-Mart doesn't have those things?

[db]

At Wal*Mart, the alcoholics are ambulant and the beggars there with the blessing of the property owner.

[Zeb]

For a city it's size, Keene also has some awesome crazy street people. There was one guy, known to most as "leather strap guy" who lived in the woods and wore little more than a leather strap.

[SugarFree]

True. Added value services like that are lost.

The homeless in Lexington are learning aggressiveness. It used to be not that bad, a few can-rattlers here and here, maybe run into one angry mind-blasted screamer. Now they are just chasing people down the street screaming obscenities and demanding money. The city spent a lot of money widening the sidewalks so they could encourage outside dining in the handful of weeks it's possible here, but a lot of people won't do it after a run it with being yelled at and having food grabbed off your plate. And the police don't do shit, either.

[LTC(ret) John]

You just need to tell the cops you thought you saw the vagrant with a blunt. You won't see them ever again.

[SugarFree]

Actually they are all too busy walking drug dogs up and down the hallways of the student dorms with the university's permission and checking keg permits.

[LTC(ret) John]

Ah, richer targets, better able to pay the fines. Got it.

[sarcasmic]

And the police don't do shit, either.

I'm surprised. Seriously. They're passing up a golden opportunity to beat the shit out of a defenseless victim.

[SugarFree]

No money in bums since they stopped having the fights.

[sarcasmic]

What do you mean? Don't the cops shake them down for their daily take? Protection and all that.

[SugarFree]

Probably, but the downtown is remarkably cop-free unless it's a game night. The rest of the year they only swarm downtown when the bars start closing for the sweetest plums: DUI and PI.

[Zeb]

Downtown Keene is actually doing pretty well. There's a small state college there which helps a lot.

[Rhywun]

I've been there; it's very nice. And I noticed quite a libertarian streak, at least among the friends and family I was visiting.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the officers will be so demoralized about not being able to fine people that they'll quit and they might have difficulty filling the positions.

What are they, paid on commission?

[Tim]

Not exactly the 300 Spartans, are they?

[LTC(ret) John]

Go tell the City Supervisor, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we ticket?

[Tim]

GO TELL THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN PASSERBY,
THAT HERE OBEDIENT TO THEIR LAWS WE LIE.

[LTC(ret) John]

Gotcha, by seconds.

[Tim]

[shakes fist]

[LTC(ret) John]

Although I do like "Board of Selectmen" better.

[Tim]

It's a quaint New Englandism.

[Drake]

If I was a worthless meter maid, why would I care how many tickets I write? I'd love these guys.

Me after a 6-hour nap: "Sorry boss, no tickets today. The damn Libertarians were out there today. See you tomorrow."

[Auric Demonocles]

Probably a zero tolerance policy is in place in terms of their level of work.

HAHAHAHA! I couldn't keep a straight face. Like they would treating an employee the way they treat students.

[Some call me Tim?]

Watch more Parking Wars, some of these people think they're doing God's Work.

[Tim]

"I came for the pay but stayed for the pathetic excercise of petty authority."

[Rasilio]

Don't you people have any sympathy for poor Rita? I hear she is a lovely girl

[LTC(ret) John]

When it gets dark, she tows your heart away?

[NeonCat]

Lovely 45 years ago, surly and hateful now.

[A Serious Man]

Shouldn't New Hampshire be a war zone due to its lax gun laws? You'd think these cops would be too busy dodging bullets from all the right-wing extremists and survivalists.

[sarcasmic]

I'm all for taunting these jerks. Maybe some shame will kick in and they'll quit to go find a real job.

[Warty]

In more civilized times, people would pelt such scum with rocks and dead cats. Fuck the meter maids.

[A Serious Man]

"You know, there was a time we'd take a guy like you out back and beat you with a hose; now you got your goddamn unions."

[Officer Farva]

Cap'n... you know I'm not a pro-union guy.

[LTC(ret) John]

That is not civilized - try dung and offal.

[Tonio]

Well, of course YOU would say that, Wartster.

[bostonaod]

+1 Jimmy Justice

[sarcasmic]

Nice. Of course we all know that nothing else happened. But it's still nice.

[SugarFree]

Since no one else has brought it up... What the fuck is a city of 25K doing with three meter maids?*

I wonder how many spaces per that works out to.

*Yes, money I know, but still.

[Rasilio]

It is the county seat and a college town, means a lot of people from the surrounding towns come into Keane on a daily basis.

So they may only have 25k residents, they probably get an average of 10 - 15k visitors daily.

[SugarFree]

I know how that is, but that's still a lot of meter maids. Especially since places that have experimented with getting rid of meters have few problems with people occupying the spaces for the long-term.

[Tim]

The business model has collapsed:

- We need ticket income to pay the salaries and overhead of the three ticket writers.

-Without ticket writers, people could park anywhere, for as long as they wanted. Downtown would be filled with people, people who weren't trying to beat the clock and get out. These people would overwhelm our downtown businesses with shopping and food eating.

[sarcasmic]

Government makes people richer by fining them and discouraging economic activity.

[SugarFree]

The worry is that meter-free means people that work downtown will occupy the spaces.

You mean the city might take part of the burden off employees that work downtown? What a fucking nightmare scenario.

[Tim]

"The worry is that meter-free means people that work downtown will occupy the spaces."

You mean like the meter maids?

[Zeb]

25k is a moderately large city in NH.

[Generic Stranger]

Town I went to in college was maybe half that size and still had a couple of meter maids (although they didn't really have any meters to mind; they just enforced the "2 hour parking" and "parking permit required" areas).

[Slammer]

Man, is that Cohen from Tennessee actually a Democrat? He absolutely hammered Holder just now at the House Judiciary Committee. Especially about weed.

[Restoras]

When there's chum in the water I think party lines can get quickly brushed aside, especially if doing so can help a re-election bid.

[Brandon]

HuffPo: What Scandal? The IRS was being patriotic by investigating the Tea Party groups:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....80063.html

[Irish]

They are now literally arguing that being opposed to increased taxation means you should be targeted by the government because only people who are in favor of taxes should be allowed to speak.

[Dweebston]

Their standard argument is that wealthy people should pay more because they have more to pay.

Not "corporatists suckling at the federal teats should pay more," nor "let's just admit we're flagrant socialists, have done with, and nationalize this bitch," but "there's money there, and we can always use more."

So is it any surprise that they're incapable of principled consistency?

[NeonCat]

It's the price we pay to be forcibly civilized.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Other than fear of enforcement, why would anyone with such beliefs bother to pay their taxes in full?

Other than fear of enforcement, why would anyone bother to pay their taxes in full?

(I mean, except for my dad, who told me last weekend that he actually has them withhold extra to help force him to save and besides he actually supports the government so he is happy to give them an interest-free loan so yeah there are some crazy motherfuckers out there fuck us all.)

[sarcasmic]

My dad, while being a lefty loon, isn't that loony.

[Irish]

Your dad has them withhold extra to force him to save? Is he unable to set an amount of money that he should deposit and then just go do that?

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Yeah. He had told me he had just taken a vacation using his tax return. I was like dude, sounds like you have a fucking withholding problem if you can take a vacation with that shit. And then he told me he was completely insane and I almost stroked out.

I proceeded to scream at him about the complete idiocy of someone who's in debt doing this, because his argument that "banks don't pay anything for savings anyway" doesn't mean much when he could be paying down debt that does carry interest.

[Irish]

Even if a bank is paying very low interest rates, they're still above zero. You might not make much money, but if you're making above zero it's still a better move than letting the IRS hold onto it.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Not if you're a Communist and this is your way of showing the nobility of the state.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

If you had been putting that money in a S&P 500 ETF, you would have made 14% return this year.

[Dweebston]

Cue PBP letting us all know that the recession ended in 2009 because the markets are dandy.

[sarcasmic]

Is Dave Ramsey on the radio where your dad lives? He's a life changer. Seriously.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

I don't know, but dude is totally beyond help with this shit. It's absurd.

[tarran]

Let me guess, you were at a young age when you realized your parents were fallible humans, weren't you?

[Some call me Tim?]

She was probably 4

[Irish]

Oh my god, most of the comments are rational and are taking the writer to task! My faith in humanity was restored, until I saw this:

HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AH1125
Atheist, bisexual, female...
296 Fans
40 minutes ago ( 2:46 PM)
These people don't deserve tax exemption. They regularly commit to a level of hate speech that should be grounds for immediate legal recourse; like the author mentioned they pretty much think that being poor is equivalent to killing your neighbor and his family; they constantly make threats against other citizens and the president; and they're pretty much religiously exclusive(if you aren't a fundy Christian or Jew, you may as well not be alive in their opinion). How exactly is any of that helping the community?

[SugarFree]

Even when it's mostly the Christians, it was really the Joos after all.

[tarran]

Dude, she's bisexual.... and really, really gullible.

If she's physically attractive, then there is a resource that must not be left unmined.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Nickel mining.

[SugarFree]

A huffpost superuser? Bisexual means too fat for men to date, but unable to identify as straight because it implies she might be part of the dread mainstream. The only pussy she's seen up close is when she squatted over a mirror for a women's studies assignment.

[NeonCat]

Losing your edge, SF? You could have added "and the mirror broke."

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Or, "and realized there were two holes down there."

[Mensan]

Three holes. Trust me, I'm a nurse.

[SugarFree]

Predictability is death.

[flye]

I'm TRYING to eat my LUNCH here.

[Irish]

I just don't know where liberals got these bizarre ideas. I haven't heard a single story that was actually proven in which a Tea Partier made a threat against anyone. I have never heard a Tea Partier claim that there's anything wrong with simply BEING poor. I've never heard a Tea Partier argue being poor is like 'killing your neighbor and his family.'

For people who claim conservatives and libertarians are paranoid for not trusting the government, they sure do have weird conspiracy theories of their own.

[Fatty Bolger]

OT: IRS scandal widening?

CLAIM: OBAMA CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIR ATTACKED ROMNEY WITH LEAKED IRS DOCS

One of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign co-chairmen used a leaked document from the IRS to attack GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the 2012 election, according to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

NOM, a pro-traditional marriage organization, claims the IRS leaked their 2008 confidential financial documents to the rival Human Rights Campaign. Those NOM documents were published on the Huffington Post on March 30, 2012. At that time, Joe Solmonese, a left-wing activist and Huffington Post contributor, was the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Solmonese was also a 2012 Obama campaign co-chairman.

[entropy]

That's hilarious and awesome.

But why the hell does a city of 25,000 even need meters?

[tarran]

Keene is at a major crossroads and people from many surrounding miles will come to do their shopping in the town. Additionally, it's a good spot to stop if one is traveling from southern NH to VT.

[Drake]

So the meters are there to fleece rubes passing through.

[tarran]

They used to be. When I was a kid living in neighboring Jaffrey, we used to park in metered spaces whenever my mom took us there to get shoes, clothes, school supplies, etc.

My more recent visits haven't involved any metered spaces at all; we stop at a Burger King in a shopping complex with complimentary parking, and then continue on our merry way.

[Zeb]

The meters are pretty much around main street.

You lived in Jaffrey? I live in Dublin, about 1/4 mile from Jaffrey.

[tarran]

I used to live on Route 124, out in the outskirts of Jaffrey.... Lovely, lovely place.

[Zeb]

Toward Marlborough? I like it a lot out there.

[Fatty Bolger]

Because without the meters they couldn't write as many parking tickets.

[Restoras]

I hope you are not trying to imply that the heroic public servants of Keane are not deserving of a bloated salary and generous benefits?

[Tim]

I'd guess it is some sort of populist relic from the early days of automobiles. The horse owners were resentful of the horseless carrige driving 1%.

[Invisible Finger]

Plus, it further inconveniences the peasants by not accounting for the time it takes them to walk from their car to the meter and back, every single time they park.

I've basically refused to do business anywhere in Chicago where I have no similarly-priced alternative to metered parking because of this. If I'm going to be inconvenienced, I'm going to avoid the "GOTCHA" potential.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

I have a lot of places where I go to specific side streets to park. Explaining to people that it has nothing to do with the money and everything to do with the failure to value the people's time is usually pretty fun. Yeah, everyone I know thinks I'm crazy.

[Suthenboy]

The people responsible for this are missing from this discussion. The town council members are elected arent they?

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

In the filing, parking enforcement officer Linda Desruisseaux said, "Besides following me, crowding around me, making video recordings of my activities, and placing coins in expired meters to prevent me from writing tickets

The fact that city governments complain about people putting coins in the expired meters tells me all I need to know about their motive; parking enforcement has nothing to do with serving the public, it's just another way to steal more money from peoples' pockets.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Some private institutions which own parking spaces have systems by which you have to pay to park there. They have employees who ticket and/or tow those who park without paying. I presume that's in their property rights.

So the question is should there should be government-operated parking spaces in the first place and on what terms the public should be able to use those spaces.

[Eduard van Haalen]

PS - There's a fine line between teasing and illegal harassment, and I'm not saying these protesters crossed it - but what if someone fed expired meters in a private parking lot?

[Eduard van Haalen]

As I understand it, the problem with some parking enforcers isn't the principle of parking laws, it's the arbitrary, revenue-not-justice nature of the enforcement.

[Some call me Tim?]

Given the way private parking lots, I doubt they'd care as long as they got paid.

Post pay lots these days are "pay as you leave." So it doesn't really apply.

[Some call me Tim?]

the way private parking lots work*

ugh, i type like an idiot when it gets this late.

[EdwinNJ]

I don't know what the hell you people are complaining about when you talk about stealing, etc. Parking has a fee, you don't pay it, they enforce. Just like any property rights situation, except, and you know you can't deny it, with private parking lots the prices for parking would be way higher. A lot of this has to do with the fact that government has less liability and doesn't have to pay taxes on its "spaces" and didn't have to buy the land, but STILL private parking would still be way more expensive than the typical downtown govnmt fees, quite simply because the private parking guys could charge more and are in it to make a profit.

At best you could say that with private parking at least when you violate your bought time, they wouldnt tow your car, but A) in your libertarian paradise where property rights are grounds to do ANYTHING you want, that might not even be true, I could easilt imagine some "If you read the fine print, you'd see that you agreed to the possibility of your car being towed" BS and B) it's PRFERABLE to have the government's lower rates but with the penalty for violation being towed, because the rates are SO much lower.

I mean, you're talking like 25 cents for an hour. You know you aren't gonna get that with private-owned parking lots/spots

[?J?? de ?guila]

You shouldn't be threatened by the state thugs for paying someone's expired parking -- so stop apologizing for the twisted city "fathers and mothers".

Everything is a crime, right? More prisons, more fines, more prosecutions. Nothing is too petty a violation for the state to ignore! hahahah.

[EdwinNJ]

and in case you want to know, the FSP freaks are doing a disservice to "libertarianism" everywhere.
Go to any of their forums or listen to the radio station and you'll hear about how pedophiles have the right to diddle little kids and they have the right to shoot anyone who so much as looks at them funny

[?J?? de ?guila]

So that makes dropping a quarter in an expired matter a Criminal Offense?

Let's start a Parking Meter Psychiatric Cookoo's Nest or a labor camp, Cool Hand Luke style.

[Ben1234]

They should not have harassed the meter maids, that is wrong, and they should be sanctioned for it.

However, the city should not be able to say one citizen can't pay the parking meter for another. That's insane. They are getting the parking meter money either way. And if their budget is dependent on them cashing in on a bunch of parking tickets, then they have abandoned their duty to serve the people in favor of serving themselves and their bureaucracy.

[jdgalt]

Gee, you mean we might actually see a city where at least one city department is not at war with the people? Sign me up!