Is Parking Meter Charity A Crime?

Its probably not as simple as it sounds. It depends on the purpose of the parking meters. If the purpose is simply revenue collection, he did nothing wrong. But if the purpose (as it is in most congested areas where competition for parking is fierce) is to keep the parking spots in a congested downtown area turning over so that people can't hog a spot all day and people coming into downtown who didn't get there early in the morning can have a shot at a parking space, then he's being a tool. Looking at the meter in the video, the sign says you can only buy 2 hours, so I'm thinking that's it. Also considering that he apparently chased the attendent down and gave her crap, I'm leaning toward his being a self-righteous tool.

Obey authority even if authority is unworthy of being obeyed. The elite class demands your compliance. Corporate America demands that the commoners comply. The entrenched status quo demands that the commoners obey. Your brainwashing / indoctrination compels you to obey. Jack-booted thugs demand you obey. A plethora of bureaucrats and bureraucracies demand you to obey. To not obey makes you suspect. Love it or leave it. Obey or be labeled, at the least, terroristically-minded. Begone thine rhetoric of the meters performing a function of opening up space for others to park. Some locales allow tossing in additional coins while others post parking for X time amount before moving the vehicle is required. You know that local elites have parking areas without those restrictions. Save "the law" for more serious matters or face a general drop in the commoner's regard for the law of, for and by the elites. Gird thine loins and prevail against your "masters" whose far-reaching embrace will willingly enslave thee to ensure your loyalty to your elite masters.

What are parking meters? We have 3rd party owned "pay boxes" in Chicago.

Where I live we have a new parking system when you can pay via cell phone or credit card. You go to a box (one per block) enter in the region you parked in and your plate number then pay. No more meter maids, just a car that goes around automatically taking pictures of license plates and generating tickets to be sent via mail if a car is in a region that does not register a payment. Its convenient but there are two negative sid effects... 1) no more dropping someone off in a metered area. Van drives by, takes your picture, ticket. Flashers does not work either. 2) No more meters to park at that may have some time left from the previous user. If you don't use up all the time you paid for, the city pockets it and makes the next parker pay from scratch. Don't know which I would rather have...pain in the butt is when its snowed and the zone sign is covered with snow so you have no idea what zone you should enter into the parking box. Someone claimed that he got a ticket because half the zone number was covered with snow, he lost. He had to take a picture of it to prove it.