Eleven new parking meters are being tested in downtown Stockton to see if they measure up to the hundreds that have been stolen from the city over the past few years.
Thieves have removed more than 1,400 meters from downtown Stockton since 2017. One person was even seen on video cutting a meter down and hiding it in a baby stroller.
Stockton Parking Manager Tina McCarty says the parking meter thefts have meant a loss of revenue of $50,000 a month.
“It has been a very difficult financial stretch," McCarty said. " In the meantime, we’ve definitely been losing revenue by not having any payment for most of the parking in the downtown.”
McCarty says parking meters help to keep people from parking in one spot all day.
“We need paid-for-parking in the downtown because it causes turnover and our businesses that are in the downtown need people to be able to come and do business and find a space,” she said.
The new meters can take coins or credit cards. To pay, drivers simply select their time and enter their license plate number on the meter. Instead of one meter per parking space, there’s only one per block.
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