Since I was one of the people crabbing about Grand Center extending the hours on its metered parking back in May, I feel the need to note that they have decided to reverse this policy. About two minutes ago, I got this press released from Grand Center, Inc.:
At the request of the major institutions in Grand Center and the Grand Center Parking Advisory Committee, and in response to patron feedback, the City of St Louis Parking Division has agreed to discontinue the pilot program which had extended the hours of parking meter enforcement to 10:00 p.m. Effective November 1, 2010, hours of enforcement at parking meters in the Grand Center District will end at 7:00 p.m. These are the same enforcement hours as the rest of the City. The need to carry large quantities of quarters has proven to be a major inconvenience for the District’s patrons, and installation of new equipment that would have allowed for payment by bills or credit cards has been indefinitely delayed by cost and technical issues.
The pocket of quarters was a pain, yes, but who is going to stand up and leave during a symphony or a musical just to feed a meter? In any case, that policy ends tonight, so if you have tickets to the theater, no need to stop by the laundromat for quarters on the way there.
