Convenience Or Cash Grab?

Just as the Mayor was promising that he was going to crack down on gas-price gougers in order to ease any undue economic strain on drivers, the city announced that it's found a way to make up the difference, squeezing drivers in their own way.

Dusting off that old stand-by "convenience" as a selling point, it was announced this weekend that new electronic parking meters were being installed around the city that take pre-paid cards (much like MetroCards) instead of loose change. Within a year, we're guessing, parking cards will be the only game in town. If you want to park, you'll need to buy a card from the city.

Unlike MetroCards, however, on which commuters can put any amount they choose, these new cards are only selling for $20 and $50 a pop, meaning the cards will dump millions into city coffers, and quickly. But is the fact that parking cards are mostly about profits really that much of a shock to anyone?

We have nothing against squeezing drivers (we wish there was a way to squeeze drivers out of New York entirely)-so the idea of making it as expensive as possible for them gets no argument from us. What does bother us about the new cards, however, is that they represent merely the most recent means by which the City, the police, or anyone else who wants to keep track of your movements. Prior to this, NYC drivers could be invisible if they wanted to be. Now parking cards will take care of all that, providing anyone with access (again like MetroCards) an electronic record of where you've parked and how long you stayed there.

Along with "convenience," maybe the City should market the cards as "the latest weapon in the war on terrorism"-people eat that shit up.