Parking Meters

The end of daylight-saving time mistakenly came a week early for some Baltimore parking meters, officials said yesterday, causing some people to get tickets. Drivers who received parking tickets yesterday because of incorrectly programmed Easy Park meters can have them abated, said Baltimore Parking Authority Executive Director Pete Little. The machines had not been adjusted when the federal government changed the dates for daylight-saving time, he said. A parking enforcement supervisor contacted a Parking Authority manager about the problem, Little said, and the machines were reprogrammed remotely from a central computer.

In the off-season, Ocean City often adds some new feature for tourists: a miniature golf course perhaps, a seafood restaurant or maybe a bar that caters to the beachgoing crowd. But here's a possible addition that might not be so welcome - parking meters north of 10 t h Street. On Friday, the Ocean City Council is expected to be briefed on a proposal to create a whopping 4,800 paid parking spaces. The most ambitious version of the plan would require visitors to pay for parking at any space along the streets on the Atlantic Ocean side of Coastal Highway from 10 t h Street to the Delaware line.

OCEAN CITY -- Out here, parking meters are hot and memories are long.Monday night, the issue of 700 new parking meters drew about 150 people to the City Council meeting. -- a substantial showing in a town of 4,559 registered voters. It generated newspaper ads, angry speeches, rebuttals, booing and even an emotional speech from the mayor.But for now, the meters will stay stored in boxes at City Hall -- where they've been for seven years."I have witnessed in the last two or three weeks this council torn apart, and I have watched the public torn apart," said Mayor Roland E. "Fish" Powell during the Monday meeting.

Baltimore City police released the incident report Monday morning about the woman who was attacked by a Rottweiler outside the farmers' market in Waverly Saturday. The attack took place when the dog broke the leash with which it had been tied to a parking meter, witnesses said Sunday. The attack took place about 10:15 a.m. in the 3200 block of Barclay Street, which runs beside the popular 32nd Street Farmers Market, one of the city's largest. According to witnesses, a man tied his Rottweiler to a parking meter behind one of the vendor's trucks and entered the market, where dogs are not permitted.

WASHINGTON -- Crews are installing state-of-the-art parking meters in downtown Washington, replacing old and damaged meters in an effort to recover lost revenue - and to bolster the battered image of the nation's capital.Only 7,000 of the city's almost 16,000 parking meters work. Many have been vandalized, causing a decline in parking revenues from $1 million a month in 1995 to $260,000 a month in October 1997.The city's Financial Control Board, which oversees many municipal operations, contracted Lockheed Martin IMS, primarily known as one of the nation's major aerospace companies, to install vandal-resistant meters.

Downtown parking meters soon will be sporting new advertisements -- and making a little money for City Hall -- under an agreement approved yesterday by the Baltimore Board of Estimates.Parc-Ads, a Massachusetts firm, was given a one-year contract -- with four renewal options -- to rent advertising panels on downtown meter posts. After a three-month start-up period, the city will receive 25 percent of gross billings, a share expected to exceed $20,000 a month.Under the contract, Parc-Ads will rent three-sided advertising panels on meters within an area bounded by Fort Avenue, Martin Luther King Blvd.

Ever find yourself with a handful of dimes and nickels when the parking meter takes only quarters?Why be so single-minded?It has everything to do with money -- charging a top rate to park in the prime downtown business district -- and keeping the meters in tiptop shape.Here's how city officials explain it: Of the 12,000 parking meters in Baltimore, about 10 percent take only quarters. And most of them are located in the central business district. Because parking is at a premium downtown, the cost to park per minute is greater there.

Parades, fireworks and backyard cookouts are the order of the day for Independence Day. To help make way for those festivities with family and friends, the following schedule will be in effect in Baltimore County on Monday, July 4. Banks: closed County Ride: closed County offices: closed Courts: closed Federal offices: closed Landfill: closed Libraries: closed MARC: no service Parking meters: free ...

A 21-year-old homeless man asked a Carroll County judge yesterday to put him in jail on work-release until he can find a job and a home.Daniel N. Robertson, formerly of Finksburg, faced sentencing yesterday after being convicted in August of breaking into 51 jTC Westminster parking meters and resisting arrest in March.Until last week, Robertson had been held at the Carroll County Detention Center since July 16 on an unrelated drunken-driving conviction.Brad Bauhof, a Westminster attorney representing Robertson, said that when his client got out of jail last week, he had nowhere to go, no job and no prospects of one. Bauhof said Robertson needs help.

County Executive Charles I. Ecker is being forced to renege on a campaign promise and begin charging for parking spaces in front of the county office building.To be fair, "renege" was not Ecker's choiceof words. During the campaign, he promised to eliminate the parking meters in front of the county office building. He never promised to stop using them forever.Monday, the hoods that covered the meters for the past year were removed. It now costs 25 cents an hour to park close to the building.

In the annals of civic improvements, none in Harford County has been watched as closely in recent years as the development of the new Main Street parking lot in downtown Bel Air. As chronicled in our pages, lo these many months over the past year and a half, the town finally bought the vacant BB&T building, the former home of the old Commercial & Savings Bank from back in the days when there really were local banks. With the BB&T building came an adjoining parking lot, once the site of the old Vaughn Hotel building that was demolished after the Great Bel Air Fire of 1972.

1. The main food groups are seafood, candy and beer. Though Rehoboth Beach is justifiably well known for its seafood restaurants, homemade fudge and taffy, and the excellent ales at the Dogfish Head Brewing and Eats, the culinary scene offers much more. In recent years, several restaurants with a farm-to-table focus have opened, and more are on the way. Ethnic food is also gaining popularity. For example, the Cultured Pearl Restaurant and Sushi Bar (www.culturedpearl.us/) serves Asian food, Dos Locos (doslocos.com)

I was away this weekend in Rehoboth. As usual, I experienced one of the best parts of travel: unexpected pleasures. On Friday I rode down with a woman I've known all but 10 years of my life.  Being with a friend of so many years is like travelling with family.  Nothing needs to be held back. Honesty of opinion is expressed. Differences are known, understood, and generally appreciated. Still, it seems that new ideas and thoughts are always discussed. This and shared experiences are part of what keeps friendship fresh.

When police burst into a city transportation building last March and arrested nearly a dozen workers who they said were throwing dice and drinking cheap liquor, the raid grabbed headlines and triggered stern warnings from officials about "violations of the public trust. " But nearly a year later, the case has ended with prosecutors convicting just one person and dropping charges against all the others. Seven workers whose criminal cases were not pursued have returned to their old jobs.

Baltimore's Department of Public Works has announced holiday services changes for Monday, Jan. 2, observance of New Year's Day. There will be no bulk trash collection or street sweeping on Monday. All Citizen Convenience Centers, including the Quarantine Road Landfill, will be closed. All city buildings will be closed except Police Headquarters at 601 E. Fayette St. Residents will not be able to pay bills or apply for permits in person though some bills can be paid online.

Parades, fireworks and backyard cookouts are the order of the day for Independence Day. To help make way for those festivities with family and friends, the following schedule will be in effect in Baltimore County on Monday, July 4. Banks: closed County Ride: closed County offices: closed Courts: closed Federal offices: closed Landfill: closed Libraries: closed MARC: no service Parking meters: free ...

New parking meters on North Charles Street have created such a community uproar that city officials have agreed "as a measure of good faith" to suspend installing meters in the area until after a public meeting in two months.With the arrival of new businesses and the recent renovation of the Johns Hopkins University's Homewood building -- which includes dormitories, offices and retail space -- residents near 31st Street are angry that the meters threaten their free parking and may cause a shortage of spaces.

Two Cecil County youths were arrested in Bel Air last week after a search of a car turned up a shotgun, $107 worth of coins and a key that opens parking meters, police said.An officer who received a call about suspicious activity stopped the youths at Thomas and Hays streets about 10 p.m. Sunday, Bel Air police said.The boys -- a 16-year-old from Rising Sun and a 17-year-old from North East -- told Officer Ben Lay they had car trouble, and one said he had called his father for help, police said.

This schedule will be in effect Friday: County offices Government offices: closed in Anne Arundel, Carroll, Frederick and Howard counties; open in Baltimore and Harford Courts: open in all jurisdictions. Libraries: Anne Arundel: pen Friday, closed Saturday-Monday; Baltimore County: open Friday-Saturday, closed Sunday; Carroll and Frederick: closed Friday and Sunday; Harford: closed Friday; Howard: closed Friday-Sunday. Public schools: closed in all jurisdictions Trash: regular pick-up in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties.