Change Due for Glendale Parking Meters

“Change is constant.”

Those words, first spoken by 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, might as well have been spoken by Phil Nuebling, a construction worker who has been employed downtown for the past six months and has been plugging Glendale parking meters with nearly $3 in quarters a day.

That is about to change.

“From now on I’m going to use a ‘cash key,’ ” said Nuebling after hearing about Glendale’s newest convenience--an advance-pay method to feed the meter, something like using a credit card.

Glendale has installed 111 cash key parking meters that work with or without coins. Drivers can purchase the cash keys, which resemble a key circled by a series of thick bands, at the Traffic and Transportation Section, good for amounts from $10 to $200. Cash key meters, installed under a pilot program at four lots in downtown Glendale, are marked with a yellow sticker. Each time the key is inserted into the meter, 40 cents will be deducted from its programming.

“That is one of the drawbacks of the cash key,” said Kristen Mignone, a Public Works spokeswoman. “You can only pay for at least an hour.”

If you are planning to park for only 20 minutes, you will lose a little money.

Another drawback is that cash keys issued by Glendale can be used only on that city’s meters, and cash keys from other cities will not work on Glendale meters. Transportation and Parking Supervisor Mark Maloney said that could change, however, if demand for intercity cash keys increases.

But for many downtown parkers whose silver-laden pockets are wearing thin, the benefits of cash key meters outweigh the drawbacks. Anyone who drives a car knows that sinking feeling you get when the triumph of finding a parking space gives way to the frustration of not having change for the meter.

Maloney said the meters will make it easier for people to park their cars--especially in 10-hour parking lots for downtown workers. That kind of convenience, Mignone said, is good for business. “If you make it easy and comfortable to park downtown, that will keep people coming back to your city.”

The new meters are digital and lack the multiple slots, the turn-knob and other mechanical parts found on traditional meters. Cash key meters, which also take coins, are cheaper to maintain and harder to fool than the older meters, which often accepted slugs and foreign coins, Maloney said.

“The new meters will bring revenue upfront. Instead of waiting for people to put the money in meters, they will pay us directly,” Maloney said. The meters will also make record-keeping easier. From data recorded by the meters, city officials will be able to tell exactly how many people parked in a particular spot over a certain period of time.

Glendale is not the first to use cash key meters. Los Angeles, Long Beach and West Hollywood have all tried digital meters.

Since West Hollywood installed its first 500 cash key meters two years ago, revenue from the meters has increased by 4%. Now, West Hollywood has issued more than 1,000 cash keys and made all 2,000 of its parking meters digital. News of the new meters’ success has spread across the globe, said West Hollywood Associate Transportation Planner Donald Korotsky.

“We’ve received calls about the meters from Alaska to Miami to Greece . . . everyplace,” he said.