An old story is new again: downtown parking meters are being vandalized:
Under the Pierce Elevated, parking is cheap.
“Yeah, it is!” driver Steve Willis said. “Cheaper than parking in the parking lots.”
But even at 25 cents an hour, it adds up — so much that thieves have been swiping parking meters.
And drivers seek out the meter-less spaces.
“There’s quite a few of them that’s been taken,” Sheila Robbins said. “And usually, a lot of people go through and we look for an empty one that’s, you know, been taken.”
They’ve been taken not only under the Pierce Elevated, but also a block from Minute Maid Park, next to a lot full of police cars.
Ouch! Kevin Whited noted KHOU-11’s reporting on this topic back in December of 2004 and wondered then if it wasn’t a manifestation of HPD’s manpower shortage.
Maybe the new $10,000 meters will be vandal-proof?
