Was in Santa Rosa,California Thursday....

[AngliaGT]

For my Wife's Lazer(sp) eye surgury.
We stayed at the Hyatt ($60 - thanks Priceline!)
in the old downtown (Railroad Square)area.
It's nice there,as you can walk all over
that area,& leave your car parked.They have trails
along the river,right behind the hotel.
We had breakfast at the Omelette Express,
a place the we'd eaten at many years ago.They have
the front ends of many Jags on the wall,as well as
a Mercedes.Seems that the owner is a British car owner.
I found it interesting that they don't have
parking meters in that area,but machines that you put
money (or a credit card)into,& you get a time-dated
stub to put on your dashboard.
While having breakfast,I also noticed a guy
writing parking tickets.It suddenly dawned on me that
I needed to use one of those machines,& get the stub
on the dashboard of our car.Made it,with about 20 minutes
to spare.

- Doug

 

[JPSmit]

You're lucky! Here in Toronto there are so many of those parking cash machines some people think they should be the city flower. Almost got a ticket because I tossed it in the car upsidedown. Did get one in London (ON) because the machine was behind a bush and I didn't see it or realize I needed it.

 

[elrey]

San Luis Obispo is installing 400 solar powered meters in their downtown. and a mess of them at the airport. These meters have been purchased [foisted on us] from Digital Payment Technologies located in, of all places... CANADA! Good for you :cowboy: Canadians, but bad for us. :frown: Of course the price for parking has to go up to pay for these #$!&! meters and ##&! REMOTE PAY STATIONS! :eeek: Why I oughta..... :madder:

 

[Silverghost]

Those self pay parking deals caused one HECK of an uproar during the last Governor's administration. Mismanaged, corrupt officials, who knew where the money went. In other words, business as usual in Chicago!

 

[Sherlock]

San Luis Obispo is installing 400 solar powered meters in their downtown. and a mess of them at the airport. These meters have been purchased [foisted on us] from Digital Payment Technologies located in, of all places... CANADA! Good for you :cowboy: Canadians, but bad for us. :frown: Of course the price for parking has to go up to pay for these #$!&! foreign meters and ##&! REMOTE PAY STATIONS! :eeek: Why I oughta..... :madder:

Almost sounds like the ones in Calgary... https://www.calgaryparking.com/web/guest/cpa_secure/parkplus They have talked about selling them beyond Calgary, because there is interest...

Here in Calgary the era of a parking meter pole is gone, replaced entirely with pay stations... And there aren't the parking meter ticket writers anymore, there is a car that drives around scanning license plates to see if there is a parking violation...

And in the process, they also converted many inner city streets that used to be two hour (free) parking zones into pay zone streets...

I'm not liking the automation, it seems to remove a human factor, a parking meter attendant knows when you're idling for a minute and can use some degree of discretion, a car driving around doesn't have any discretion at all, it's just a computer without feelings, sorry rant over... :hammer:

 

[DART]

I agree with the meter comments 100% Same thing going on over here on the least coast.

Doug- We have dghtr & SIL living a few blocks from that area and have eaten breakfast in the Omelette Express many times. We find the town a great base for trips into Dry Creek, Samona & Russian River wine country. Wish your wife the best results with the surgery.

 

[CZ_Dave]

Try finding a parking spot for a 18 wheeler
there in Calgary, talk about impossible.

I just wanted to get some cigars.

 

[Sherlock]

Try finding a parking spot for a 18 wheeler
there in Calgary, talk about impossible.

I just wanted to get some cigars.

I can imagine, but that's what truck stops are for...

Let me guess the cigar store at the Ramada Hotel? :wink:

So I assume you're a truck driver for a living