First you read the article by a New York Times Sportswriter who has lived his life in New York and doesn’t know that he needs to have change in his car for the meter. Then you think about the enforcement officer – who happens on the scene only to find a car with an expired meter. And you KNOW that this officer has heard it all.
Correspondent Mark responds as follows:
Maybe it’s just me, but I remember when I started driving one of the first things I did was get a roll of nickels and put it in the car for parking meters (it was a long time ago), as did just about everyone I knew. Even as teenagers my friends and I all realized that the end result of driving was always going to be parking, and sometimes that would be at a parking meter. Even now I always have ample change in my console, that’s where I always put the change whenever I go to a drive thru or come out of a store. If you have enough presence of mind to put on pants and shoes before going out the door, or to remember to bring your cell phone you ought to be able to remember to have a couple of quarters if you know you’re going to be going somewhere that will most likely entail the use of a parking meter. Is that expecting too much? Then again, what do I know?
JVH
