Cost To Park In Royal Oak Going Up…Up…And Away!

For those of you who visit the new Trademark Productions office in Royal Oak, Michigan, come to the city on the weekend for its entertainment or its plethora of restaurants, get ready to be wowed!  Wowed by the increase in parking on the street, that is.  Yes, with unemployment continuing to be a problem and the job market filled by potential employees with few employers, Royal Oak officials have decided to raise the price of parking to $1.00 an hour this summer.

New parking meters are being ordered that will accept credit cards.  Let’s hope they fare better than what happened in Chicago not too long ago.  Price increases, glitches with computers and meters that were mismarked or out of order caused a massive backlash in the community that resulted in some very major, very costly vandalism.

Let’s also hope that people are more willing to use their credit cards–as the city hopes–instead of digging around for loose change.  After all, nobody is suffering from credit card debt…  And, on a plus note, these very same meters can later be outfitted with a sensor that detects when your vehicle has left.  What does that do?  You know that time left on the meter?  It resets, so no more getting lucky finding a spot with an extra 20+ minutes on it.  This, folks, is known as the “double dip.” And if you have time left when you pull away?  Will you receive a refund since somebody else is pulling in and paying for the exact same time you purchased?  Don’t count on it.

The alternative is simple; use the parking garages.  Sure, it may be old-fashioned and not quite as fun to brag about to your friends, but it’ll save you money and you’ll be less likely to be pegged in a Pure Michigan spoof about Royal Oak.