Parking Meters

Baltimore's Department of Public Works offices will be closed Tuesday for Election Day. Trash and recycling will not be collected. The make-up collection day in those areas that are regularly scheduled for Tuesday will be Saturday. There will be no bulk trash collection, according to the department, and citizen drop-off centers will be closed, including the Quarantine Road Landfill, the Northwest Transfer Station and the Eastern, Western and Northwestern sanitation yards. Parking meters will be in effect, the city said.

On the seventh day, even the meter readers are supposed to rest. Under an exception thought to date to the time of "blue laws" that required closings on Sundays, Baltimore parking meters are not supposed to be in effect then. But meters at the Inner Harbor say otherwise, and meter readers issue 200 to 300 tickets on Sundays, as they do every other day of the week. Those who pay to park there Sundays -- and those who pay tickets for failing to do so -- might keep their money in their pockets if they knew more about the law. Marc McDowell, a host at J. Paul's restaurant who plugs $10 in meters when he works Sundays, wasn't happy to learn he has missed out on a freebie.

Time is expiring, Baltimore, for the bubblegum-machine parking meters of old. The deposit-your-coin, twist-for-time machines were first introduced to the city in the 1950s and they now stand sentry over 10,980 individual parking spaces. But a $4 million plan by Mayor Martin O'Malley's administration, presented last night to the City Council, calls for replacing nearly half of the traditional meters with new, high-tech machines that have been tested for more than a year in Fells Point and along Charles Street downtown.

Visitors to Annapolis will encounter higher fees at parking meters and in garages beginning in May as the city attempts to raise money to pay for increased parking enforcement and more shuttle buses into town. Under a bill passed this week by the Annapolis city council, the fees will rise from 50 cents to $1 an hour on meters and from $1 to $1.25 an hour in the Hillman and Gotts garages. The bill also set a $1 hourly rate at the new Knighton garage off West Street and will allow city residents two hours of free parking in all three downtown garages.

You need grit to get by in Baltimore, a city with lots of big urban ills and pesky daily aggravations. What you don't need anymore, at least in some parts of town, are quarters. The cashless society has come to a parking space near you. To spare coinless drivers untold frustration, Baltimore is yanking out dozens of old parking meters and replacing them with a high-tech version that takes credit cards. No more digging for stray quarters between the bucket seats. No more risking tickets.

Some offices will be closed in these jurisdictions today for Martin Luther King Jr. Day:STATEState offices closed ANNAPOLISCity offices closed Courts closed Parking meters must feed Trash removal regular pickup BALTIMORECity offices closed Courts closed Libraries closed Parking meters must feed Public Schools closed Trash removal no pickup

This schedule will be in effect Monday Anne Arundel County County offices:closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed tomorrow and Monday Public schools: closed Trash: no pickup, landfills closed Annapolis City offices: closed Courts: closed Parking meters: feed Trash: no pick up Baltimore City offices: closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed Parking meters: feed Public schools: closed Trash: no pickup; landfills and transfer stations closed...

This schedule will be in effect today: Annapolis City offices: closed Courts: closed Parking meters: free Trash: no pickup Anne Arundel County offices: closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed Public schools: closed Trash: no pickup, landfills closed Baltimore City City offices: closed Courts: closed Libraries: closed Parking meters: free today; feed Monday Public schools: closed Trash: no pickup; landfills and transfer stations closed...

This schedule will be in effect today:Anne Arundel CountyLibraries -- closedAnnapolisParking meters -- must feedBaltimoreLibraries -- closedParking meters -- must feedBaltimore CountyLibraries -- closedParking meters -- must feedCarroll CountyLibraries -- closedFrederick CountyLibraries -- closedHarford CountyLibraries -- closedHoward CountyLibraries -- closedOther services and attractionsMTA buses -- Sunday scheduleMetro -- closedLight rail -- 11 a.m.-7...

This schedule will be in effect today. Anne Arundel County offices: open Courts: closed Libraries: open Public schools: open Trash: regular pickup Annapolis City offices: open Courts: closed Transit: regular service Parking meters: feed Trash: regular pickup Baltimore City City office: closed Courts: closed Libraries: open Parking meters: feed Public schools: open Trash: no pickup; landfills and transfer stations closed Baltimore County...