Like the voices of Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, Manhattan's old coin-operated parking meters have been discarded for flashier, more efficient and soulless Multispace Muni-Meters. But what will the city do with the 51,000 meters they removed last month? Sell them! Expect to see plenty of old school NYC parking meters on a TV screen near you. more ›

Because technology today allows us to shoot laser beams in eyeballs, and keeps our kitties crapping into robots, New York City is in the process of installing 300 parking meters that will allow users to refill them with their cellphones. Sure, why not encourage more vehicles to pour into the city's already choked streets? If we've learned anything about the advancement of modern technology, it's that there's no profit in the cure, man. more ›

Cruel mistress Lovely Rita Meter Maid is preparing to drive her poison-tipped pumps down on the necks of drivers outside of Manhattan, as the DOT is proposing to raise meter rates for the second time in two years, by 25 cents to raise the total of $1.00 an hour. Their budget is on the hurt and the agency needs cash, but pols aren't happy. Queens councilwoman Karen Koslowitz tells the Daily News that the rate increase is "unconscionable," and Bronx councilman James Vacca is vowing to "negotiate the rate hike out of the DOT's budget plan," which is what they did last January. Maybe it would just be easier to secede? more ›

Yesterday it was reported that the city's is mulling a plan to lease the rights to 50,000 parking meters to a private company. Which we noted didn't work out so well for Chicago. However, Bloomberg reiterated that the Windy City's woes could never happen here, because the city would be in charge of setting the prices. Phew, for a second we were worried about getting gouged. more ›

Last month, we said it'd take a Christmas Eve revelation to get Mayor Bloomberg to renege on his plans to increase parking prices across the city. But it turns out that all it took was a bowl of matzoh ball soup! Bloomberg announced yesterday that the city would hold off on increasing parking rates in the outer boroughs from 75 cents to a dollar an hour. And credit is being given to City Councilman James Vacca for slipping whatever potion he did into Bloomberg's soup. more ›

Last week the Department of Transportation began a pilot program that had been in the works that is "congestion pricing for parking" of sorts, doubling the rates on meters in the West Village. From noon until 4, meters now cost $2 an hour in what the DOT hopes will free up spaces and cut down on double-parking by creating greater turnover for the area's highly coveted street parking spaces. Vehicles in the West Village tend to camp out because the DOT rarely enforces the 1 or 2 hour limits that cars are supposed to leave within. Residents and business owners in the area think that with the price to park on the street still costing so much less than local garages, little will change other than the higher amount of revenue coming into the city. Phil Mortillaro the owner of Greenwich Locksmiths lamented the Times, “It would have been better to run the trial at night when this place is full of tourists, not just during the day.” more ›