When I pulled into a parking space in front of my apartment building Thursday, one of the parking meters was covered with a McDonalds bag.
I assumed someone was just creatively littering, but when I pulled the bag off the meter, I realized they had scribbled "out of order" on the bag. The meter screen was blinking. I'm not sure that will get you out of a ticket. But I threw the bag away and looked on the city's Web site to see how you report a broken meter.
The number listed for that purpose is 854-2230. But when I called that, I got a message telling me that number was not in service. Then I noticed the main parking bureau number is listed as 849-2230, so maybe the other number is a typo. (But how long has it been that way?) So I tried that number and reached the voicemail of someone in the parking bureau, who said they will be out of the office until Tuesday.
So I'll leave a message. I've interviewed Denny Becker, the employee who fixes parking meters, so maybe I should just stop by his workspace. But it seems like it should be easier to report the problem.
(File photo is from Jason Plotkin)
I assumed someone was just creatively littering, but when I pulled the bag off the meter, I realized they had scribbled "out of order" on the bag. The meter screen was blinking. I'm not sure that will get you out of a ticket. But I threw the bag away and looked on the city's Web site to see how you report a broken meter.
The number listed for that purpose is 854-2230. But when I called that, I got a message telling me that number was not in service. Then I noticed the main parking bureau number is listed as 849-2230, so maybe the other number is a typo. (But how long has it been that way?) So I tried that number and reached the voicemail of someone in the parking bureau, who said they will be out of the office until Tuesday.
So I'll leave a message. I've interviewed Denny Becker, the employee who fixes parking meters, so maybe I should just stop by his workspace. But it seems like it should be easier to report the problem.
(File photo is from Jason Plotkin)
Leave a comment