Merchant President Blasts New Parking Meters on Clement St.

By Lauren D. Yee

For those of you who remember the days when parking meters were a newfangled invention, get ready for the latest innovation in meters.

Frequenters of Clement Street, namely between Seventh and Eighth avenues, will be able to use the new electronic parking meters, as part of the city's most recent parking experiment.

According to San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic Director George Reynolds, having the electronic meters, which limit parking to two hours, was "something we were thinking about for several years."

Whereas drivers can continually feed the traditional meter beyond two hours, the electronic meter has a device built in underneath the car that senses when a vehicle has been in the space for more than two hours. When the driver moves the vehicle from the space, the meter resets.

Reynolds said that the electronic meters are preferable because of "their flexibility and accuracy."

Though the installation of each electronic meter costs approximately $100 more than that of the traditional type, Reynolds said he expects the electronic meters to garner more revenue from parking fees. The electronic meters, which are less prone to jamming as regular meters, require less maintenance since they do not need to be fixed as often. As a result, Reynolds said, in the end the electronic meters may lower the cost of maintaining the city's parking meters.

As efficient as the new meters may be, Clement Street Merchants Association President Irwin Phillips said he is opposed to the installation of the electronic meters.

"With a deficit in the budget, cuts in salaries and the laying off of people, why are they going out and spending more money?" Phillips said. "Just leave the meters alone and don't go digging up the streets."

Phillips said simply installing the new meters "ties up a parking stall for a day or two," thereby cutting into business.

Phillips also argues that having the electronic meters is "a rip off to the public."

"You put a quarter in to pay for a spot for an hour," Phillips said, adding that if you drive away before that hour is over, "you don't get the rest of that hour on the meter."

However, Harvey Louie said he finds the electronic meter's resistance to jamming a particular benefit compared to the old meters.

"When a meter gets jammed, you lose a couple days of revenue there," Louie said. "That's five or six dollars a day."

As for the two-hour time limit, Reynolds said he believes the limit creates "more turnaround," thereby allowing "more space for customers."

Although the meter will reset once the driver has moved their car out of the space, Reynolds said he does not believe many people will try to avoid the time limit by backing out and returning to their previous spaces.

"People don't have the time to go back into spaces," he said.

According to Reynolds, Clement Street's electronic meters are part of a trial run to update the city's meters. Reynolds said so far electronic meters make up about 50 of the 23,000 parking meters throughout the City.

"We're not sure if we're going to go that way," Reynolds said in regards to more widespread use of the electronic meters.

Reynolds said that further installation of multi-space electronic meters will start in August, while more single-space meters will come later in September.

According to Reynolds, several major cities, including New York Cit and Los Angeles, are already using the electronic meters.