Letter: Revenue down because parking meters are disaster

I find it hard to believe the mayor and staff cannot figure out why there is a $1.5 million shortfall in revenue from parking meters ("SLC mayor: Parking kiosks not to blame for revenue loss," Tribune, March 3). Based on the current system, I assumed their goal was to stop people from driving to downtown Salt Lake City. If keeping cars off the streets is the agenda, I am fine with that; I kind of like the idea.

But to say they do not understand why it has happened is a bit crazy. Let me explain why my wife and I do not frequent downtown as much as we used to.

1. The pay stations work less than half of the time we try to use them.

2. The two-hour limit prevents us from going to dinner and seeing a movie, without having to time everything around getting back to the car and paying for two more hours.

3. It is cheaper to park in a lot than pay for four hours of meter time.

4. The pay stations are not user friendly. No lights at night, no place to put dollar bills in, credit cards work about 50 percent of the time.

Bob Greely

Salt Lake City