Smart Meters Here To Take Your Credit Card, Charge You As Much As $18/Hr

It costs about $8 per hour to park in the Embarcadero Center, one of SF's most expensive garages. Why would anyone pay the same rate to park on a street where your car is more likely to get broken into? The first person who pulls up to a meter and is asked to pay $18 for an hour for a "special" event is going to have a heart attack.

Another way to ream people for the privilege of living in SF. Time to start hunting for spaces in residential neighborhoods.

I'm still waiting for someone to figure out how to charge a use tax on the air we breathe.

The city should not be giving away parking for free. there is nothing in the Constitution that guarnatees you paying 10 cents an hour for parking, and it makes sense for the City to do demand based pricing. The media loves to jump on that 18 dollar figure, when in fact it is very unlikely that will ever happen. It's more likely that you'll have prices dip in the middle of the day in areas where people aren't parking as much, and charge more when demand is high. That's plain old common sense business, and it's about time the MTA started charging market rate prices for parking.

Last time I checked, "civic parking" wasn't "free", and it wasn't "10 cents an hour" and has not been for years. However, as in all revenue plans, there is a price point at which people are entitled to say "enough" of fees, revenue enhancements and taxes. I am not sure why you characterize the maximum rates ($18) as "very unlikely" (unless you know something that wasn't published in the media); I've lived in the City for 26 years and fees--once raised--never go down.

Did we ever implement the proposed changes from the MTA (http://is.gd/dNkiu -- sorry for linking offsite, SF Appeal, please don't hurt me!) in terms of extending meter hours and charging on Sundays?

Hell, I'm all for taking people's money more efficiently (I never have change, but sure could use my credit card if I need to park somewhere), but that's not necessarily going to fix street parking.

Why on earth would we object to links to other news orgs, as that is what we do, many times, in many of our stories? Linking to other sites is a good thing for news organizations to do, not something to apologize for! What an odd notion that we would "hurt" someone for demonstrating an internet best practice!

ANYWAY. In March, the MTA board asked Ford to come up with a trial Sunday/longer hours plan, perhaps one of the reasons the MTA says they are "Continuing to meet with individuals and organizations to discuss the study findings and recommendations and to seek public input."

This after MTA chief Nat Ford promised to include both longer hours and Sunday enforcement in this year's MTA budget then did not do so, some say at the behest of the Mayor's office.