It’s hard to keep track – I get emails from folks, we put stories on facebook, and I want to comment on the blog. Sometimes I miss one for the blog so here we go. The city of Raleigh has dropped their “free” parking for the disabled. Read about it here.. However they removed the time limit. It works like this – If you are disabled you hit a button the meter which allows you to purchase as much time as you like. A person who doesn’t is limited to two hours. If an enforcement officer sees that you have hit the button he/she merely checks the car for a handicapped permit and acts appropriately. Sounds like a good solution to me.
Mike Manville (see post below) comments:
That sounds exactly right to me. Of course, it also raises the question of why anyone, not just the disabled, faces time limits. I suppose until the prices are right, a time-limit exemption for the disabled is appropriate. But we really should see the presence of any time limits as prima facie evidence that the prices are wrong.
See, by varying prices like is done in off street applications (so much for the first hour, more for the second, etc – the pricing structure would take care of the timing problem.
JVH
