Mayor Howard Fishman said he wants to replace Hermosa’s coin-operated parking meters with meters that use credit cards, saying they are more customer-friendly and would save the city the cost of its workers who go meter-to-meter collecting the coins.
“My whole thing is I would love to get out of the coin business and into plastic,” Fishman said. “…It’s time we moved into the 21st Century.”
Fishman said coin meters frustrate motorists who must fish around for the right change, they can be jammed and require more maintenance, and the collection of coins is time consuming and expensive.
“We wouldn’t have any use for the people doing the coin counting,” Fishman said. “That would be an additional benefit to it.”
The city will soon install a number of temporary credit card meters along busy 11th Street as a shakedown cruise. The credit card meters will fit like hoods over the heads of the existing coin meters.
Credit cards can be used at central pay stations for spaces at the municipal parking structure and two other downtown lots, but the vast bulk of meters across Hermosa take only cash or a small key sold at City Hall.
Interim Police Chief Steve Johnson, whose sway includes parking enforcement, also spoke up for credit card meters, at a council meeting last week.
“I agree, we have to get away from coins,” he told the council.
