Politics Battles Policy at MTA on Parking MetersPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Oct. 21‚ 2009I expected conservative business owners to speak out at yesterday’s MTA Board meeting against expanded parking meter hours. What I didn’t expect was for the left-wing group International ANSWER to rail against parking meters as an “assault” on the proletariat, although we never saw them protest when Muni raised bus fares for people who can’t afford cars. As Marc Caswell of the Bike Coalition described it, “ANSWER – fighting oil wars abroad, while fighting for free parking at home.” The MTA has completed a 37-page study of expanding parking meter hours later in the evening and on Sundays, the most exhaustive analysis done since the City installed its first parking meters in 1947. With the MTA faced with the choices of more revenue or more Muni service cuts, we can identify a net of $6 million in revenue – without a blanket “one-size-fits-all” approach to the whole city. Will the Board use the study as a framework for an equitable solution, or will they bend to the political pressure of angry motorists? |